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modernization

An Examination of the US NC3 Industrial and Innovation Base

Report

An Examination of the US NC3 Industrial and Innovation Base

Colonel Elvert Gardner examines the U.S. industrial and innovation base, identifying key factors that may militate against innovation and against timely and efficient supply in the US industrial base.
Aquisition, cybersecurity, Department of Defense, DOD, human capital, industrial base, innovation, modernization, National Defense Authorization Act, national security, nuclear, stability, supply chain, United States
June 20, 2019
Russia’s NC3 and Early Warning Systems

Report

Russia’s NC3 and Early Warning Systems

Leonid Ryabikhin argues that distrust, misunderstanding and concern prevail in US/NATO and Russia relations, increasing the risk of unintended or accidental conflict. He concludes, "The absence of contacts between the United States and Russian military and the failure to reach new agreements while existing agreements collapse worsens an already dangerous situation."
ballistic missile, biological, early warning, Ministry of Defence, modernization, NC3, nuclear, nuclear forces, radar, reduction, Russia, Soviet Union, stability, submarine, superpower
July 11, 2019
Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications Systems of the People’s Republic of China

Report

Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications Systems of the People’s Republic of China

Fiona Cunningham describes the origins of China’s NC3 system and its primary role in supporting China’s land-based missile force. She outlines recent developments including mobility, “informatization” and automation of parts of the NC3 system, pending deployment of nuclear missile submarines, early warning systems, evolving organizational structure, and cultural factors that shape China’s NC3 system and its orientation towards negative versus positive control.
arms race, China, crisis instability, emergency, escalation, modernization, NC3, nuclear, red line, stability
July 18, 2019
Emerging Technologies, Emerging Challenges: The Potential Employment of New Technologies in Future PLA NC3

Report

Emerging Technologies, Emerging Challenges: The Potential Employment of New Technologies in Future PLA NC3

Elsa Kania assesses how emerging technologies—including artificial intelligence, cloud computing, fifth-generation telecommunications, and quantum communications—may affect China’s NC3. Kania concludes: “Although certain of these technologies could enhance China’s confidence in its NC3 in ways that may prove stabilizing, there are also reasons for concern that the potential introduction of such complex, untested technologies could also create new risks and exacerbate the threat of miscalculation.”
5G, AI, China, cyberspace, early warning, fiber-optic, fifth generation, force posture, hypersonic, jamming, missile penetration, mobile missile, modernization, NC3, nuclear, PLA, quantum, radio, rapid reaction, risk, rocket force, satellite, second artillery force, secure, secure communications, stability, submarine, super low frequency, targeting, technologies, underwater communications, very low frequency, war-fighting
September 5, 2019
NC3 and Crisis Instability: Growing Dangers in the 21st Century

Report

NC3 and Crisis Instability: Growing Dangers in the 21st Century

Daryl Press focuses on the growing threats to nuclear command and control and communication (NC3) systems around the world and the links between vulnerable NC3 and strategic instability due to the risky steps that nuclear weapons states may adopt to protect their arsenals during crises or wars.
accident, accuracy revolution, air defense, alert level, arms race, artificial intelligence, cold war, conventional weapon, crisis instability, data, decision-making, deterrence, escalation, force planning, modernization, NATO, NC3, nuclear, preemptive strike, stability, survivability
October 17, 2019
What Do We Want From the Nuclear Command and Control System?

Report

What Do We Want From the Nuclear Command and Control System?

In this essay from IST and the Nautilus Institute, Paul Davis suggests that U.S. NC3 modernization “should place increased emphasis on assuring control, avoiding accidents, and avoiding ill-informed or unwise employment of nuclear weapons.”
authorization, deterrence, first strike, intelligence, launch under attack, limited war, modernization, NC3, nuclear policy, redundancy, retaliation, stability, strategic, warfighting, zero-tolerance
October 24, 2019
Counter Nuclear Command, Control and Communications

Report

Counter Nuclear Command, Control and Communications

This report by Carol Ann Jones seeks to introduce the nuclear command, control, and stability framework; collect open source NC3 system information on the eight declared nuclear nations to fill in the framework; describe counter NC3 activities; and introduce a few alternate NC3 approaches that may contribute to nuclear stability.
anti-satellite, bias, C3, command and control, communication, complexity, electromagnetic pulse, launch authority, modernization, NC3, Nuclear Posture Review, special operation, stability, strike, supply chain, threshold, vulnerability, warhead, warning
November 7, 2019
Assessing the Strategic Effects of Artificial Intelligence

AAR, Report

Assessing the Strategic Effects of Artificial Intelligence

On September 20-21, 2018, the Center for Global Security Research (CGSR) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), in collaboration with IST, hosted a workshop to examine the implications of advances in artificial intelligence (AI) on international security and strategic stability.
artificial intelligence, decision-making, deterrence, instability, modernization, nuclear war, quantum, stability, surveillance
September 20, 2018