yitbos
Posted on 02/23/2010 10:02:56 PM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
The United States has informally told Japan it will retire its sea-based Tomahawk cruise missiles carrying nuclear warheads, in line with President Barack Obama's policy to pursue a world free of atomic weapons, government sources said Monday.
Washington said the move would not affect the nuclear umbrella, addressing concerns in Tokyo about the step's effect on U.S. deterrence against potential attacks from China, North Korea or other countries, the sources said.
The retirement will probably be stipulated in the Nuclear Posture Review, a new nuclear strategic guideline the Obama administration is slated to submit to Congress next month, they said.
U.S. subs carrying nuclear-tipped Tomahawks called in Japan during the Cold War, but the missiles were later removed for storage at bases on the U.S. mainland.
Their retirement will also likely affect debate in Japan over Tokyo's ongoing investigation into a secret pact with Washington to allow the U.S. military to bring nuclear weapons to Japan, because decommissioning will rule out the possibility of nuclear missiles coming into the country.
Past port calls and passage through Japanese waters by submarines armed with Tomahawks have raised controversy in terms of Tokyo's three nonnuclear principles of not possessing, producing or allowing nuclear arms on its territory
(Excerpt) Read more at search.japantimes.co.jp ...
I don't think subs carry nuclear-armed Tomahawks, at least not anymore. Their Tomahawks are all conventional. Most Ohio class subs carry Tridents.
No. You have the Trident missile system for a second strike.
I think the attack subs carry the coventional Tomahawks.
Maybe this ‘time-line’ will help. IF this article is to be believed the Tomahawks have not been eliminated...
yitbos
I think that they do too. I honestly don't know what ships still carry the nuclear Tomahawks. I don't think any of our subs or surface ships are carry these, at least as a manner of course - could be wrong.
I just looked it up.
The treaty only applied to ground launched variants of the Tomahawk and GLBM’s with a specified range.
Apparently it did not apply to sea or air launched cruise missiles.
Its seems our surface ships do carry nuclear Tomahawks because the Japanese are complaining about it when our ships come to port.
Allowing the enemy to get the upper hand, really brilliant... sarcasm.
Answer x 2: President Imanutjob.
Hundreds of Kilotonnage. That’s what I like to hear. For any sane opponent, it puts things quickly into perspective.
I saw that, and found it a little puzzling. I'm thinking that this is Obama trying to take some political credit with his (in his words) "policy to pursue a world free of atomic weapons", but in reality I don't believe that there are any deployed. I'm pretty sure they're all in storage, and have been for some time.
The Navy has a standing policy of not confirming or denying what nuclear weapons are or are not on any specific ship, and it does cause some commotion from time to time. This happens constantly with our carriers.
Megatonnage
Zero wants the money for our military superiority to go into the black hole of our financial meltdown. It is a variation of the socialist’s goal to turn guns to butter.
Once we have met total financial destruction, Zero will have set us up to be ground zer0 to our enemies.
You are right about the carriers.
Obama is unilaterally disarming the US, while all our enemies are building nuclear weapons.
Remember that article a few days ago about India and China performing a joint military exercise? When Bush was president, this never would have happened, as India was a US ally.
Glad to know Obama is “restoring” the image of America in the eyes of the world! Oh wait.
I agree.
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