US mulling MIRVs to counter China’s nuclear buildup

China’s nuclear buildup may spur the US to consider rearming its land-based nuclear missiles with multiple warheads, a move that would have significant implications for strategic stability and breach a crucial arms control treaty with Russia.

The Warzone reported that the US Strategic Command (STRATCOM) has called for a return to deploying intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) with multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs).

The report notes that the US Air Force’s LGM-30G Minuteman III ICBMs have this capability though they are currently only loaded with one warhead in line with arms control agreements with Russia. The service’s future LGM-35A Sentinel ICBMs will also be armed with only a single warhead.

US STRATCOM boss US Air Force General Anthony Cotton highlighted the importance of considering a return to deploying ICBMs with MIRVs while testifying before the Senate, according to The Warzone.

The Warzone report says that the US Strategic Posture Commission recommends a “plan to deploy the Sentinel ICBM in a MIRVed configuration.”

However, it notes that the current plan is for each LGM-35A ICBM to be loaded with a single W87-1 nuclear warhead inside a Mk 21A reentry vehicle when the missile enters service, which is expected to begin in the 2030s.

The 2010 New START treaty, which limits how many total strategic warheads and delivery platforms the US and Russia can have deployed at any one time, has until now stopped the US from deploying MIRVed ICBMs.

China’s accelerated nuclear weapons buildup may be the immediate impetus for the US to reconsider deploying MIRVed ICBMs, with Russia providing nuclear technology to China in the two sides’ “no limits” strategic partnership.

In April 2022, Asia