Recently, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesmen told news agency RIA Novosti of Moscow’s intention to abandon the Nunn-Luger Cooperative Threat Reduction program, through which the U.S. has funded the decommissioning and disposal of excess and time-expired stocks of Russian nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles and other strategic weapons since the 1990s.  The move comes just as Moscow announced its intention to recommence nuclear tests and is placing emphasis on arming attack submarines with nuclear cruise missiles.

This new rejection of a long-standing cooperation agreement with the U.S. and its resumption of offensive-armaments buildup seem to be part of Putin’s strategic turn away from the West, as well as a move to warn China.  As Russia continues its strategic shift from the West to the East, will this armament buildup eventually result in future deals with its Asian neighbors or will Russia be viewed as another regional threat?

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Focus on Asia-Pacific as a long-term objective

• A congressional study published in August suggests that the U.S. considers the modernization of China’s navy an aggressive act.
• China has developed ballistic anti-ship missiles that are the first capable of striking aircraft carriers.
• China has launched three nuclear subs of its own design that are capable of firing nuclear-armed intercontinental missiles.
• The number of Chinese military-related patents has increased by an average of 35 percent per year during the last decade.
• U.S.  Marine Corps is moving troops to Asia/Pacific and will end up with 22,000 Marines west of the International Date Line
• The U.S. 7^th Fleet, the Navy’s largest and strongest force with more than 60 warships and around 40,000 personnel, is stationed in Japan and Guam.

Greater focus on Special Operations

• U.S. Special Operations forces are deployed in 75 countries, compared with about 60 at the beginning of last year.
• President Obama asked for a 5.7 percent increase in the Special Operations budget for fiscal 2011 (total $6.3 bil) plus an additional $3.5 billion in 2010 contingency funding.

Advanced drones

• The Air Force Chief of Staff General claims they will pursue “manned-unmanned” pairings, including using a manned Apache helicopter to control UAV or UAVs payloads.

Cyber War

• The U.S. military recently participated with other countries in the Cyber Endeavor- full on cyber warfare drill focused on protecting information in a collaborative environment.
• The Department of Defense is building cyber ranges (controlled battlefield environments) to evaluate cyber defense tools.

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