WASHINGTON – The US military, in the presence of Secretary of Defense MarkEsper, has reportedly conducted a “mini exercise” in which Washingtonlaunched a simulated nuclear strike against Russia.
Speaking on condition of anonymity during a briefing on Friday, a seniorPentagon official said the exercise took place earlier this week at the USStrategic Command headquarters in Nebraska and that Esper had participatedin the simulated showdown in Europe between Russia and NATO.
“We conducted a mini-exercise,” the official told reporters. “The scenarioincluded a European contingency where you are conducting a war with Russiaand Russia decides to use a low-yield limited nuclear weapon against thesite on NATO territory, and then you go through the conversation that youwould have with the secretary of defense and then with the presidentultimately to decide how to respond.”
The US responded with what the senior official called a “limited response”to Moscow’s nuclear attack in Europe.
The official did not say what type of target the US military had simulatedattacking in retaliation.
While at Strategic Command in Nebraska, Esper had reportedly been briefedabout the nuclear arsenals of North Korea, Russia, and China.
Earlier in the month, the United States announced the deployment of a newlong-range nuclear missile aboard its stealth submarines to deter what itcalls Washington’s potential adversaries.[image: US deploys submarine-launched low-yield nuclear weapon in Atlantic]linkThe US Department of Defense claimed in a statement that the low-yieldwarhead was deployed on the USS Tennessee submarine patrolling in theAtlantic Ocean to deter “potential adversaries, like Russia,” and inresponse to Russian tests of similar weapons.link
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The new missiles sparked fresh concerns as critics said thesubmarine-launched ballistic missile warhead would lower the threshold forusing nuclear weapons.
In August, the US withdrew from the 1988 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forcestreaty with Russia. The pact banned all land-based mid-range missiles.Washington’s withdrawal from the INF has renewed tensions between the twonuclear powers.
Washington has been deploying its missiles in Eastern Europe and nearRussia’s western borders, a provocative move denounced by the Kremlin.
Moscow has repeatedly warned Washington not to deploy such missiles in thevicinity of Russia’s borders, vowing to deploy its own missiles, capable ofreaching all parts of Europe in response.
Underlining the modernization of US nuclear weapons arsenal as a priority,the Pentagon called on Congress in its fiscal 2021 budget request toapprove $28.9 billion to maintain its existing weapons and buy newintercontinental ballistic missiles, stealth bombers, submarines, cruisemissiles, warheads and communications equipment.
