Rumsfeld Defends Funding For Nuclear Penetrator Study

NUKEWARS

The Bush administration envisions Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator (RNEP) as a weapon to destroy deep underground targets, while others believe the B-61 Mod 11 (pictured), a weapon already in the arsenal, accomplishes that goal. The study of a Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator will evaluate modifications to existing nuclear weapons that do not require nuclear testing.

Washington (AFP) Feb 18, 2005
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld Thursday declared funding to complete a feasibility study for a nuclear earth-penetrating weapon a "sensible" response to rogue states that are moving sensitive facilities underground.

Congress cut off funding for the study last year but the administration is requesting 8.5 million dollars in 2006 to resume it and says it will need an extra 14 million dollars to complete it in 2007.

Called Robust Nuclear Earth-Pentrator, the study would examine whether a nuclear weapon can be designed to bore through concrete or rock and then detonate.

Rumsfeld said the United States has no conventional capability for attacking deeply buried targets.

"The only option we currently have is to use a vastly overpowered nonconventional weapon. That isn't desirable," he told a Senate Committee.

The move comes amid growing US concerns that North Korea and Iran are pursuing clandestine nuclear weapons programs.

Rumsfeld said countries can now "dig holes through rock twice the height of a basketball net and the full length of a basketball court" in a single day with equipment that is widely available.

"People are putting things underground in every rogue state, in countries that are engaged in activities that are not compatible with civilized societies," he said.

"And it seems to me that the idea of proceeding with this study is just eminently sensible. And anyone would look back five years from now, if we failed to take a responsible step like that, and feel we'd made a mistake," he said.

NUKEWARS

Analysis: Scenarios Of N.Korea Nuke Drive

Seoul (UPI) Feb 18, 2005
Most officials and analysts here are playing down the North's boast of nuclear weapons, saying this is a brinkmanship tactic aimed at gaining leverage over the United States in future dialogue.

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