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| An Indian Ballistic Missile test launch (File Photo0 |
By Phillip Swarts
The nuclear ballistic missiles that have deterred threats since the Cold War no longer are adequate for today's fight against terrorist groups, the former leader of U.S. Strategic Command said Tuesday.
The U.S. needs to have long-range conventional weapons that mirror its nuclear ballistic missiles, retired Air Force Gen. Robert Kehler told the House Armed Services subcommittee on strategic forces.
“Violent extremists and nation states are not the same, and we cannot deal with any of them in a one-size-fits-all manner,” he said. “Deterrence strategies that are the preferred approaches to counter nation states will likely not be effective against violent extremists, where direct action is often the only recourse. Nuclear weapons may not be the most credible deterrence tool against some targets, against some scenarios where they were once the preferred option.”
Instead, Kehler advocated for long-range conventional weapons that could carry out the same mission of hitting targets, but without the nuclear fallout.
“Today the only prompt global strike capability to engage potentially time-sensitive, leading targets continues to be a ballistic missile system armed with nuclear weapons,” Kehler said.
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