Tensions between Moscow and Washington escalated after the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announced it had started manufacturing the weapon at its Pantex plant in Texas on January 28. US President Donald Trump ordered the creation of the W76-2 ‘mini nuke’ to boost its trident arsenal following a nuclear posture review (NPR) in 2018. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the missile “lowers the threshold of nuclear weapons use and, of course, boosts the risk of a nuclear conflict”.
The long-serving aid to Russian President Vladimir Putin added the weapon: “Won’t contribute to global security.”
However the Trump administration defended the creation of the weapon and said it decreased the chances of a nuclear war happening, during the NPR last year.
It said the nuclear warhead “help ensure that potential adversaries perceive no possible advantage in limited nuclear escalation, making nuclear employment less likely”.
Meanwhile NNSA said the W76-2 was on track to deliver units to the US Navy by the end of Fiscal Year 2019.”
The W76-2 is a modification of the existing nuclear weapon, the W76, but with a reduced amount of tritium.
According to Stephen Young, a senior Washington representative of the Union of Concerned Scientists, its explosive power will be reduced from 100 kilotons of TNT to just five kilotons, which equates to around a third of the power of the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.
However Mr Young did criticise the need for the low-yield weapon, citing Mr Trump as a reason not to create one.
He told the Guardian: “There are many other scenarios, especially with a President who takes pride in his unpredictability and has literally asked: ‘Why can’t we use our nuclear weapons?’”
Other critics include former US defence secretary William Perry who labelled the move “extremely distressing”.
He added: “The belief that there might be tactical advantage using nuclear weapons – which I haven’t heard that being openly discussed in the United States or in Russia for a good many years – is happening now in those countries which I think is extremely distressing.”