Arms Control Wonk

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China's Noisy New Boomer

This has taken me a couple of days to get to, but Hans Kristensen penned a nice post (China’s Noisy Nuclear Submarines) about China’s new Type 094 ballistic missile submarine, based on an Office of Naval Intelligence document entitled The…

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Safir Fin, Trajectory & Staging Details

click on the image for a larger version Iran’s satellite launch pad position and orientation as determined in Jane’s Intelligence Review (G. Forden, “Smoke and Mirrors: Analyzing the Iranian Missile Test, April 2008, pp. 47-51). The actual image overlay has…

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The Problem of Redundancy Problem

Michael Krepon, in both his recent ACW article and in the Stimson Center Occasional Paper on the 1990 Indo-Pak crisis , does a thorough job of discussing the problems associated with some the conclusions raised in Seymour Hersh’s past investigative…

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JASON LEP Study

Warhead replacement is dead. Or it should be. Several of us have been eagerly awaiting the release of the JASON report on Life Extension Programs, which reportedly concluded that Life Extension was preferred to warhead replacement. It’s here. Arms Control…

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Sy Hersh and Pakistan’s Nukes

Seymour Hersh deserves every one of many awards for investigative journalism he has received, but not for his reporting on Pakistan, where his sourcing is weak and his conclusions are suspect. Hersh’s latest, Defending the Arsenal, Can Pakistan’s nuclear weapons…

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Modified Limited Hangout @ Qom, MNSR

Now that the IAEA’s latest Iran and Syria reports have leaked out, the fun begins. The conversations last September in Tehran about the enrichment site at Qom must have been really something. Perhaps they went something like this: PRESIDENT: You…

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IAEA BoG Reports

Here they are: Iran and Syria. The Iran report has lots of details on Qom site (also known as Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant), which the IAEA places at 20 km north of Qom.

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The Blue and Yellow Bomb (Part 1)

Jeffrey and I have something in common. I’m Swedish. In his youth, Jeffrey went to some Swedish school (Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois). And we’ve both developed an interest in nuclear weapons issues. But what do Madonna and nuclear…

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Fuel Swaps v Escrow: Compromise Possible?

The Iran-IAEA LEU-for-TRR-fuel deal is running out of time, President Obama says. And as the LEU–TRR deal goes, it’s pretty safe to say, so goes the West’s preferred strategy of engagement and de-escalation of tensions. This is just the latest…