Joe Biden is the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. While the popular perception of Biden is that he’s quite moderate, on nuclear issues he’s always been relatively progressive. Aaron and Jeffrey discuss Biden and bomb. Support us over at Patreon.com/acwpodcast!

China’s People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) has been very busy in the last few years, testing new high-tech missiles and standing up new launch brigades.  Superproducer Scott joins Jeffrey and Anne to talk about reports of the PLARF test launching over 100 missiles in 2019, rapidly expanding since 2017, and some of the data …

James Palmer of the UK’s Atomic Weapons Establishment joins the ACW trio to talk about the importance of 3D modelling and data visualization, including recreations of North Korea’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site and virtual reality training simulations. Links of Note, Courtesy of James Palmer: Enhanced briefings for a CTBTO On-site Inspection SnT2017  (Palmer and Stevanović). …

Iran tested a satellite launch vehicle, and it failed. But this isn’t a reason to cheer. Iran showed off a lot of goodies this month, pointing to an active solid-propellant missile program and has no said a future satellite launch is going to use a solid-propellant space launch vehicle.  This is bad news. Aaron and …

After the Iranian ballistic missile raid on U.S. forces in Iraq, the IRGC appears to have accidentally shot down a Ukrianian airliner flying out of Tehran. The Iranian government took about 3 days to admit that it was shot down, initially denying that it was shot down. Prior to the admission, the Arms Control Wonk …

As it turns out, the ACW trio thinks that Iran’s missiles are accurate. Super accurate. As Anne flies across the United States, Aaron and Jeffrey spoke about Iran’s ballistic missile strikes Ain Assad Air Base in Iraq, why the strike on Erbil may have been an outlier, and how nobody is in control of escalation. …

The ACW crew discusses the JCPOA…again. Iran has announced its 5th step away from the JCPOA. The trio discusses what that means, what it doesn’t mean, and where we go from here.  And, for your ease of reference, Iran’s Five Steps: May 2019: No longer limit stockpiles of LEU or heavy water July 2019: No …

Launch a missile, get a pod, post-INF Treaty edition.  On December 12, 2019, the U.S. Air Force and the Strategic Capabilities office tested a “prototype conventionally-configured, ground-launched ballistic missile” from Vandenberg AFB. The trio talks Twitter hot takes, the Strategic Capabilities Office, the future of U.S. missile procurement, and the future of intermediate-range ballistic missiles. …

Sohae is open for business! The ACW Gang talks North Korea’s recent engine test at Sohae and marvels (again) at the power of satellite imagery. Was this test Kim’s “Christmas Gift” to Trump? Or just a stocking stuffer?  Support us over at Patreon.com/acwpodcast!

What is the future of the Open Skies Treaty? The Arms Control Wonk trio talk the Open Skies Treaty, the conspiracy theories that now permeate the debate about Russian aircraft, and why the treaty matters. Support us over at Patreon.com/acwpodcast!