Nuclear command control, and communications (NC3) is the protected and assured missile warning and communication system enabling the command and control of US nuclear forces that must operate effectively under the most extreme and existentially challenging conditions—employment of nuclear weapons. However, the nuclear NC3 system is one of the most opaque, complex, hardened, least understood, and perhaps least appreciated foundations for nuclear deterrence and strategic stability. #ForwardDefense's latest issue brief, written by Dr. Peter Hays and Sarah Mineiro, analyzes the US Department of Defense’s plans to modernize NC3 and provides recommendations to address the daunting range of geopolitical, technical, and bureaucratic challenges the Department faces to do so.
Hays and Mineiro conclude the paper with three main recommendations:
(1) The United States should continue to support the modernization of space-based NC3, with specific tailoring that enables adapting to changes in the geopolitical threat environment, harnessing hybrid architectures and the evolution of national security space architectures, and meeting deterrence objectives across a range of increasingly challenging potential scenarios.
(2) A whole-of-government and whole-of-nation approach is needed to assess the commercial viability and military utility of space-based services upon which the US government intends to rely, either wholly or in part, and through all phases of conflict.
(3) The DOD should recognize the significant challenges and potential incompatibilities it faces in rapidly and simultaneously developing modernized, space-based NC3 and fielding an overall hybrid space architecture that is far more resilient.
Read the issue brief to learn more about Modernizing Space-Based Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications: https://lnkd.in/gWk6sW8g
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