U.S. makes first major addition to its nuclear arsenal in decades

They also contend that lower-yield air-launched nuclear weapons already in the U.S. arsenal make the China admits "shortcomings" as virus infects more than 20,500  redundant.Rood, however, said the submarine-launched low-yield missile is important because it can more reliably penetrate air defenses than could an airplane armed with nuclear weapons.The W76-2 is the Trump administration's answer to what it calls a Russian misconception of an exploitable "gap" in U.S. nuclear capabilities. Rood noted that deploying the new lower-yield missiles has not increased the total number of American weapons under the New START limits because each of the warheads replaces one of the more powerful versions that had been exclusively deployed aboard the subs.Bruce Blair, a former Air Force nuclear weapons officer and co-founder of Global Zero, an international group that advocates the elimination of nuclear arms, said he sees merit in reducing the destructive power of nuclear arsenals."But we must not delude ourselves into thinking lower-yield nukes are more usable in a conflict," he said.