NATO's Nuclear Deterrence Posture Seen as Robust

NATO has put a lot of effort and resources into its nuclear deterrence mission, said Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy Vipin Narang, who spoke today at a virtual Center for a New American Security fireside chat on Adapting NATO's Nuclear Posture to Current Threats.

Narang said that overall, he'd give NATO's nuclear posture a grade of A-plus. He provided some examples:

• The U.S. and the Netherlands have fielded the first nuclear-certified F-35A jets.
• The legacy B-61 nuclear weapons are being replaced by upgraded ones.
• NATO has reinvigorated its nuclear consultations and planning.
• The transition to the Sentinel ICBM from the Minuteman III will continue.

The transition to Sentinel is crucial to national security, Narang said.

NATO has superior conventional forces, as compared with Russia, and three of its member states, the U.S., the United Kingdom and France, all have nuclear weapons.

The United States has an impressive nuclear triad consisting of intercontinental ballistic missiles, ballistic missile submarines and bomber aircraft, he said, noting that each leg of the triad has its own inherent strengths.

The robust nuclear and conventional forces of NATO are vital to deterring conflict.

If nuclear weapons are employed against NATO, it will be necessary to support and sustain the conventional fight and a potential nuclear response at the same time, he said.

"We have to build all that resilience and redundancy into the conventional forces to be able to enable nuclear operations should it become necessary," he said.

In the event that Russia were to employ non-strategic nuclear weapons, Narang said he believes that "you will see coherence and unity in the NATO alliance" and there would be severe consequences as President Joe Biden has consistently stated.

A lot of effort within NATO has gone into planning for outcomes such as this, he added.

Narang also touched on concerns about North Korea and China's growing nuclear arsenal and their lack of transparency and communications with the West. "Our outreach [to] China on strategic stability talks has been rebuffed."