COMMENT: Trump's Mega-Missile That's Aimed At North Korea
The headlines say that President Trump's military team is looking at an advanced plan to update America's nuclear weapons systems and strategy.
But the headlines tell only part of what’s going on.
The full story is more dramatic. America and the United Kingdom have to rethink their war strategies.
The United States, for its part, has developed a totally new weapon - one to be used, if needs be, against North Korea.
It is called CTM – Conventional Trident Modification.
The Trident programme provides the missiles for the UK's nuclear warhead deterrent, which is carried by four submarines.
Under development, an updated Royal Navy deterrent submarine could carry this new CTM weapon.
New thinking says new missiles and warheads will come under a new strategic policy called 'Conventional Prompt Global Strike (CPGS)' capability.
In Washington this weekend, Congressional documentation prepared for the Secretary of Defense, the US Combat Commander Strategic Command (USSSTRATCOM) and Congressional Defense Committee suggests that the President is now being offered a new weapon system and a new strategic plot for its use.
In the United Kingdom, Cabinet Office and Ministry of Defence analysts have accepted that the way the defence review is conducted can no longer follow old ideas and concepts of possible enemies.
The new weapon system and function are based on the need to carry out "time-limited strikes".
In short: when there is a point that the US and the UK would have to strike at an enemy at short notice, perhaps to stop an all-out war.
An example would be: if North Korea was about to launch a final nuclear test and America was challenged to keep its promise to stop it.
That weapon would need to be "effective within an hour".
Importantly, the new weapon allows the US and UK to strike at a target that they might otherwise only been able to hit with a nuclear warhead – an unacceptable proposition because of the physical and strategic complications.
The President has been told CTM is likely to be around five times the speed of Trident, is too fast to be spotted by Korean radar and that their anti-ballistic defences would not be able to cope.
Hence his UN Speech that he has the capability to blow North Korea to smithereens. But what about China and Russia? That's a different ball-game.
The view in Washington over the weekend – or the view I was given – is that two crucial areas are now being developed and the UK has to think "smarter and faster" when talking defence review. Those areas are massive:
The first is 'Third Offset Strategy' – the development of super-advanced technologies, although the US and UK can never rely on being ahead of the game. The second area is something the UK is not yet talking about:
The big powers, including the UK, are being forced to ask the deeper question: do we know how to think of war?
Do we really know what war we could fight in future and against whom? Hence the so-called Cold War declarations of some of Britain's generals.
The Russians may not be coming, but the Americans are and we have to know we can do more than just tag along.
Cover image courtesy of Michael Vadon.
Christopher Lee is the Forces Radio (BFBS) defence analyst. He can be heard every week on the only radio programme devoted to discussing matters of defence and security, Sitrep. To download, click here.
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