Navies in the second nuclear age

Abstract

When it comes to risk, in peace, crisis or war, context isn’t everything. But it’s almost everything. US security faces an increasingly nuclear context as these weapons have spread to nine countries, and counting. China’s nuclear breakout is especially significant. Moreover, new technology (AI, hypersonic missiles, smart drones, cyber) create options unseen in the Cold War for conventional counterforce attack of enemy nuclear missiles. The growing nuclear context shapes how—and even whether—the new technologies will be used in peace, crisis, or war. The US must avoid a situation where it faces a choice of capitulation or nuclear war