Russia is now flying nuclear-armed aircraft as part of combat readiness drills and preparing operations and staging maneuvers with low-yield tactical nuclear weapons, developments which appear aimed at intimidating the West into slowing down or stopping its support to Ukraine.
Nuclear threats have been a rather constant refrain from Putin as he routinely heightens the tone of his rhetoric with specific references to the possible use of nuclear, and tactical nuclear weapons; sure enough, a recent essay from the Associated Press said the Kremlin plans to conduct war drills with nuclear-capable Iskander short-range missiles. The prospect of deploying ground-fired tactical nuclear weapons is by no means new, yet these exercises do seem to incorporate a greater degree of maneuver and, perhaps of greatest significance, they include arming aircraft with tactical nuclear weapons.
The Russian units will “practice receiving nuclear weapons from storage and deploying them to designated launch areas. The maneuvers will also include air force units that will arm their warplanes with nuclear weapons and perform patrol flights,” the AP essay explains.
The Iskander is a high-speed, short-range ballistic missile capable of delivering conventional weapons such as cluster munitions as well as tactical nuclear warheads. Being able to travel at speeds up to Mach 5, it can prove difficult to intercept, a fact making its deployment as a tactical nuclear weapon extremely dangerous. Perhaps the largest concern is that a conventionally armed Iskander could easily be mistaken as a nuclear weapon, a scenario which could of course unintentionally start a nuclear engagement.
Russia has performed ground maneuvers with tactical nuclear weapons on several occasions and even moved them into Belarus. He is also well-known as someone consistently willing to make nuclear threats against Ukraine.
Russia’s large, longstanding and dangerous arsenal of tactical nuclear weapons was cited several years ago by Pentagon leaders who were explaining DoD’s rationale for adding new, lower-yield tactical nuclear weapons to the US stockpile.
