In January 2019, the Department of Defense (DOD) under the Trump Administration issued the Missile Defense Review (MDR) outlining the roadmap for U.S. missile defense policy, strategy, and programs. The Biden Administration is scheduled to issue their MDR in early 2022.
The Threat
In 2019, the MDR outlined a “threat environment that is markedly more dangerous than in past years”, and today we see that President Trump was correct. The MDR issued during the Trump Administration focused on his America First agenda, making the homeland the number one priority of the U.S. missile defense program. The MDR directed DOD to:
- ·Deploy 20 additional long-range interceptors at Fort Greely in Alaska
- ·Deploy additional discrimination radars in Alaska, Hawaii, and other locations
- ·Upgrade existing radars
- ·Make sure our interceptors could engage certain ICBM-class threats (Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles)
Russia Today
Russia’s Strategic Rocket Forces (SRF) are a separate branch of the Russian armed forces. It includes three missile armies which comprise 11 missile divisions and approximately 60,000 personnel. Current estimates are that Russia’s ICBM force is made up of 310 missiles that can carry up to 1,189 warheads. Russia has been modernizing their ICBM force and this is expected to be complete by 2022. Another part of the SRF is the Russian Navy which has 10 strategic submarines. The estimate is that the submarine fleet carries around 624 warheads. The aviation units are estimated to comprise 60-70 bombers that can carry nuclear-armed cruise missiles. Additionally, Russia has a variety of delivery systems that can carry nuclear warheads to shorter and intermediate ranges and these systems are referred to as nonstrategic nuclear weapons. Estimates of the number of warheads assigned to nonstrategic nuclear weapons is 1,912. Russia has extensive early warning systems that transmit to two command centers: one in the Khabarovsk region and one in the Kaluga region, and they transmit to Moscow. Russia has about a dozen research institutes and facilities that participate in the design and manufacture of nuclear and nonnuclear components for nuclear weapons; their nuclear weapons are stored at approximately 12 national central storage sites.
The Treaties
The bilateral arms control agreements shaped the restrictions that have been placed on Russia and the United States:
- The SALT (1972-1979) when the U.S. and Soviet Union signed their first formal agreements limiting nuclear offensive and defensive weapons in May 1972
- the INF and START (1982-1993) seen as significant milestones in arms control; the Moscow Treaty and New START have all been significant in the arms race.
And so?
December 2021 saw an increase of illegals on our Southern border from Russia and Ukraine. Over 2,000 Russians and 300 Ukrainians made their way to our border. As the Ukrainians fight for their freedom from the Russian invasion of their country, we too must fight against the invasion of our country. From October 2020 to September 2021, 1.66 million people were arrested at our Southern border. Why would I write about “the threat” and “Russia today”? Not just because the world might just have entered a world war, but because we have a war on our Southern border and the enemy might just be the same as the enemy of Ukraine. Join me in electing Republicans who will build the wall. Let’s put America First.