Should the US make new nukes? Options

[*mipadi*]

Labs Compete to Make New Nuclear Bomb

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the San Francisco Bay area and the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico are competing to design the nation's first new nuclear bomb in two decades.

Scientists at both facilities are working around the clock on plans that will be presented to the Nuclear Weapons Council, a federal panel that oversees the nation's nuclear weapons. The council will choose a winner later this year.

"I have had people working nights and weekends," said Joseph Martz, the head of the Los Alamos design team. "I have to tell them to go home. I can't keep them out of the office."

Congress approved the new bomb, known as the reliable replacement warhead, with bipartisan support in 2005 as part of a defense spending bill. The weapon would, by law, have the same explosive power as existing warheads.

Proponents of the project say the U.S. would lose its so-called "strategic deterrent" unless it replaces its aging arsenal of about 6,000 bombs, which will become potentially unreliable within 15 years. A new, more reliable weapon, they say, would help the nation reduce its stockpile.

Critics say the project could trigger a new arms race with Russia and China, and undercut arguments that countries such as Iran and North Korea must stop their nuclear programs.

The United States and Russia signed a treaty in 2002 calling for the countries to each cut nuclear inventories to between 1,700 and 2,200 warheads by 2012.

Source

Should the US invest in new nuclear weapons, or could this possible trigger a new arms war with Russia and/or China?

[medic]

There is no need to make new Nukes. The US never really plans on using them, the closet we came was the Cold War, and those nukes are not used anymore. The US has the most high tech Nuclear program in the world, not to mention we have electronic pulse weapons that can do the damage that a nuke can, without the contamination and the deaths. There will be no county in the world that has a more high tech military then the US. Half the world works on US designed defenses anyway, the MIG jet is a exact copy of the F fighters. Germany in WWII was smarter then the US military wise, but that all died when Hitler shot himself.

[*mipadi*]

The US has the most high tech Nuclear program in the world, not to mention we have electronic pulse weapons that can do the damage that a nuke can, without the contamination and the deaths.

Electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapons are effective and useful, but they only knock out electronics systems, which, while effective, isn't nearly the same amount or kind of damage that a nuclear device, detonated in a traditional manner, does.

Half the world works on US designed defenses anyway, the MIG jet is a exact copy of the F fighters, and the AK47 is a Russian copy of American weapon technology

I'm not sure how you can argue that the AK-47 is a Russian copy of American weapon technology. The AK-47's been around since 1947, and was largely designed by a Russian (Mikhail Kalashnikov). Technically, it's design isn't a whole lot like American military assault rifles.

[medic]

Electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapons are effective and useful, but they only knock out electronics systems, which, while effective, isn't nearly the same amount or kind of damage that a nuclear device, detonated in a traditional manner, does.
I'm not sure how you can argue that the AK-47 is a Russian copy of American weapon technology. The AK-47's been around since 1947, and was largely designed by a Russian (Mikhail Kalashnikov). Technically, it's design isn't a whole lot like American military assault rifles.

As for the EMPs, when they don’t have electronic systems, they can not do any counter attacks if they have no way of communication and more. A nuke is always last resort on all fronts, it can kill the target, but also kill millions of civilians in the same hit. EMP’s can fry all tanks, cars, plains, and communication and make way for a attack.

As for the AK47, I meant to say the AK47 was copied into the M16. And yet the M16 is as widely used as the AK47 by countries that the US gives it to.