A series events over the month of March, centered on the March 18 Defense Programs Conference sponsored by McAleese and Associates, a defense consultancy based in Arlington, Virginia, have put a spotlight on how U.S. strategic policy is developing under the “peace through strength” ideology of the second Trump administration. The conference was addressed, by among others, Gen. Anthony J. Cotton, head of U.S. Strategic Command and Vice Chief of Space Operations Gen. Michael A. Guetlein. (See detailed report in Documentation.)
Cotton told the conference that he wants a bigger nuclear arsenal. He wants 145 B-21 stealth bombers, not just the 100 currently programmed, more Columbia class ballistic missile submarines than the 12 currently planned, and more advanced nuclear cruise missiles than the 1,087 on order. In testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 26, Cotton took aim at both Russia and China in order to justify nuclear force modernization. Cotton said “the Chinese Communist Party” is rapidly expanding its nuclear forces into a fully functional triad with more than 600 nuclear warheads and counting, reported DOD News. “Russia has modernized the majority of its nuclear arsenal. North Korea continues with its unlawful and destabilizing programs in pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles, and Iran continues to pursue uranium enrichment,” he said.
In the space domain, the key words are “control” and “dominance,” that is, the U.S. Space Force must be able to dominate the orbital region, and deny access to it by China and Russia. At the McAleese conference, Guetlein claimed that China has been practicing “dog fighting” with satellites in orbit. He said the operations involved “five different objects in space maneuvering in and out and around each other in synchronicity, and in control.”
