1/5 Kara Sea Activity Caveat: Preliminary findings. On October 28th, when the Poseidon test was conducted according to Putin, there were 6 unidentified ships off the eastern coast of Novaya Zemlya, Kara Sea. No NOTAM, no PRIP, but well off the path for any civilian traffic.

Back in the late Soviet era there was work being done on an APS for silos (specifically R-36M2 silos). This system used "shotguns" with tungsten rods to defeat enemy RVs in lower atmosphere. It was successfully tested against RVs (Baikonur -> Kamchatka track) in late 80s.

A somewhat confused piece in Politico re US plutonium by @zcolman.bsky.social. These 25 tonnes of plutonium in pits is the material identified as surplus 30 years ago, no way it "plays a central role in the US nuclear weapons stockpile" (pits are not "highly radioactive" by the way) 1/

So, is CENTCOM going to be the first to ever use nuclear armed ICBMs in a real armed conflict?

It is amusing how instead of constructively engaging the proponents of the "Putin is in a bunker" narrative have blocked me when I challenged it. It is what it is 🤷‍♂️

So, are there any plans and proposals for the new nuclear-tipped penetrators being written in the US? Or will the B61-13 be considered good enough? Or we might see B83-X? Or new fancy payloads for Sentinel and/or Dark Eagle? #NukeSky

A random thought. Let’s say that you are a Russian planner, you know that a lot of your SSBNs and TELs are on in base alert in a relatively normal situation. You know that there is a LoW policy. So, what is your target set for those RVs in a LoW scenario?

OTD 35 years ago, the United States assembled its last fully new nuclear warhead—a 455-kiloton W88 for the Trident II D5 SLBM—at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas. Since then, several thousand existing warheads and bombs have been significantly refurbished at Pantex, enhancing their capabilities.

@massiasthanos.bsky.social by the way, do you have any good data on the proposed USAF/SAC B-747 airborne command post, back in the early E-4 days?

Uh, the US used 150 THAAD interceptors (out of an inventory of 534) and 80 SM-3s (out of inventory of 400) in the 12 day conflict between Israel and Iran. More of these missiles have been used since the Oct attack in 2023.

Ignoring the numbers for a sec, theres a high chance that these systems also fired on the same targets two or three times. Integration of US BMD systems has been a long term problem and so far only THAAD and PATRIOT have progressed to a level of "true integration". US-Israel integration also sucks.

Knyaz Pozharsky, a submarine of the Borey-A/Project 955A class transferred to Russian navy russianforces.org/blog/2025/07... There was a delay, presumably to conduct a Bulava launch, which is normally part of the state acceptance trials. But it appears that the launch didn't happen.

So how would Soviet nuclear forces operate in the 1980s (say 1987)? 1/13

Found in an old report.

OTD 35 yrs ago, the last continuous “Looking Glass” flight took off from Strategic Air Command HQ at Offutt AFB, Nebraska. For more than 29 years—starting on February 3, 1961—at least one EC-135 airborne command post was kept aloft, ensuring the ability to fight a nuclear war if SAC were destroyed.

Old ideas that are popular again :)

In other FOIA news... in 2012 I filed a FOIA request with NNSA for reports relating to their work on the GNOMON, a gigaton-range weapon concept from the 1950s. In 2015, they gave me a response where they redacted everything, including the names of the report authors, on the grounds of "privacy."

🧵 The GWEN (Ground Wave Emergency Network) used a series of low frequency (150-175 kHz), EMP-hardened, unmanned radio relay stations located across the US. The GWEN program was cancelled in the mid-1990s before reaching its intended final operational capability. 📷 calhoun.nps.edu/server/api/c...

Boeing E-4B AACP (Advanced Airborne Command Post). Serves as the NEACP (National Emergency Airborne Command Post) of Operation "Nightwatch". The NEACP is now called the NAOC (National Airborne Operations Center). Equipment shown is not current. 📷 calhoun.nps.edu/server/api/c...

Interesting test. "To assess how LLMs from OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, Mistral and xAI compare today, we ran 500 geolocation tests, with 20 models each analysing the same set of 25 images." www.bellingcat.com/resources/ho...

One of the more common concerns during the cold war regarding the US NC3 equipment would seem to be it's reliance on it's elements on external power supplies, particularly in communications infrastructure, with leased civilian lines.

This is more or less the vibes I am getting from my current research on the US and Soviet NC3 history. It is quite sad that US did not pursue DUCC/DUSC (or SCCs).

A historic question. I have seen a claim made that SAC HQ had a near real-time data on the status of it's forces. Yet in other places (ie description of REACT) it appears that the automated C3 interface was receive only. Was the polling done manually, ie over phone?

Did you know that until 2009 there was a treaty between Russia and Ukraine, one of the terms of which was that Russia would provide early warning system data to Ukraine?

To do a palette cleanser from all the Iranian content... Here is some activity at the well known COG/COOP sites! Starting with Site-R (aka "Raven Rock"), northern part (2020-2024), a possible new portal (ie expanding ventilation for generators/aircon) 1/6

Declassified document concerning Anglo-American cooperation in undersea surveillance in the 1970s

L'armée ukrainienne 🇺🇦 a largement renforcé ses lignes de défense Dans l'est de l'Ukraine, d'immenses lignes de défenses sont creusées chaque jour à une vitesse jamais atteinte, couplée à une nouvelle stratégie pour stopper l'armée russe 🇷🇺 🧵THREAD🧵1/16 ⬇️

1. This isn't a game of who has the most warheads. 2. If Europe needs more warheads, we can do that. www.ft.com/content/7fed...

Is anyone familiar with this recently constructed facility in Huoshan County, Lu'an City, Anhui Province? ( 31.447542, 116.428347) @isemidori.bsky.social @josephwen.bsky.social @wslafoy.bsky.social @dexeve.bsky.social @nukestrat.bsky.social @vcdgf555.bsky.social

Russia wants to restart Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. A good summary of potential issues from Bellona bellona.org/news/nuclear...

The rather desultory discussions over the Ukraine peacekeeping force honestly cast doubt, not on whether we (Europe) can do both Ukraine and eastern flank, but whether we can do either right now.

Could US cutting aid to Ukraine be viewed as an act of coercion, to push Ukraine closer to accepting undesirable terms? If the US administration pursues this policy, what would be the other actions that they could take? Limiting ISR, including commercial IMINT?

Yesterday a US Navy E-6B TACAMO flew a training mission over the Gulf of Mexico (!) with the track showing the characteristic loops indicating deployment of the miles-long antenna used to send launch codes to nuclear missile submarines.

You’re saying we can’t just park some Rafale in Alexanderplatz??

Russian Foreign Minister reveals that Moscow isn’t interested in talking to the Europeans at all: “If they’re going to fish around for some crafty scheme to freeze the conflict while, true to their nature and customs, actually intending to prolong the war, then why invite them in the first place?”

According to Maj.-Gen. Popov, the Su-57E offered to Algeria "will not have the Russian IFF system, the Russian navigation systems will be replaced with the European or US ones, it won't have nuclear and "hypersonic missiles" capability and will have altered radar frequencies" m.vz.ru/news/2025/2/...

Air Force is suspending work on a significant part of new Sentinel ICBM program, ordering a pause on launch facilities under development. @bychrisgordon.bsky.social has the scoop. www.airandspaceforces.com/air-force-or... A result of rushed planning and poor oversight. fas.org/publication/...

A review of this post by Fabian Hoffmann, a thread. (https://buff.ly/40W5wZb ) 1/9

A review of this post by Fabian Hoffmann, a thread. (https://buff.ly/40W5wZb ) 1/9

On this day today in 1963 the UR-100 weapon systems has been first suggested to be developed. On 30th of March Council of Minister decree ordered such development. 1/3

Xi Jinping will reportedly attend Russia's Victory Day celebration in Moscow on May 9 to mark the 80th anniversary of the USSR's defeat of Nazi Germany. A big show of solidarity from Beijing, and a major optics win for Putin. t.me/kommersant/7...

Appreciated joining the podcast on "Drone Warfare in Ukraine and the Future Of Combat" with @EscapedSapiens. www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvBQ...

A satellite imagery time lapse of a new Chinese military command center under construction near Beijing, first reported by @financialtimes.com The facility is on track to be ten times larger than the Pentagon, according to US officials.

Another quarter another Veteran Missileer magazine issue. It has many interesting bits, but mostly nichie ones, ie clarifying that the technical requirements for Rif radio link came from suggestions for improving Efir-M radio link. 1/3

"...the 12 strikes north of the capital were conducted by the US and UK on underground infrastructure belonging to the Houthis....Houthis claimed Israel was involved in the strikes, Israeli media reported, citing the Houthi-run Al Masirah news outlet." jpost.com/breaking-new...

Early, pre-1976, design work for Minsk Metro. Courtesy of the bunker-703 team.

On this day today, in 1984, USSR began working on Skorost BM. It was being developed using the Pioner and Pioner-3 experience, as well as Topol and early Universal work. Courtesy of dr.Kornev. 1/3