We need 'em ... guaranteed. Minuteman III's are getting old and it's a huge part of our triad nuclear arsenal, rather have them than not. Putting money into this beats putting it into illegals and refugees any day.
I can't say I disagree with you, given the proliferation of nuclear arms among nations both hostile and friendly with the US, but it's just baffling to realize the last generation of minuteman missiles were developed in the 1970's. I worry that as we continue to allow students to be dumbed down, the 18-21 year olds who come to wear a military uniform will be lacking in both the intelligence to operate such systems or even be mentally stable enough to be trusted with the keys. We're likely going to develop an autonomous defense system to administer this. And that's before we factor in the foreigners.
Geez, it's just like I predicted in my nightmares. Skynet's not going to take the keys to civilization and wipe us out, future generations are going to gleefully give it the keys as we continue to destroy ourselves. If it deploys drones to kill us, it'll be to eliminate those lacking the ability to police their own actions.
We gave away a lot with the START treaties with the (then) Soviets. Our Minuteman were Multiple Re-entry Vehicle (MIRV) missiles with a max of three warheads. START dropped that to single warheads. We also gave away our newest ICBM, the Peacekeeper (popularly known in those days as the MX), which was a ten warhead MIRV system. Not only did we give those up, we destroyed the launchers so the could never again be used. We also gave up the nuclear armed Ground Launched Cruise Missile (GLCM). That's the AF losses ... I can't speak for the Navy's sub weapons, but we gave up way too much for little to no gain.
We'll be okay as far as the personnel, I think. Though I do agree that may be a problem in the future. And you're correct, newer, more advanced delivery systems may supersede all. We can only hope. This is just an area of interest to me, as I'm retired from a long career in Minuteman/Peacekeeper ICBMs, both with the AF and associated contractors. So I'm all for quick modernization, especially if we can get the ball rolling where it's beyond the ability of the DNC to shackle it if they ever retake control. That's where the real problem lies with me ... their modern day priorities don't align with the real things that have kept our country free and strong for so long.
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