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Established Nation
FEDERATION NEWS SERVICEOn the Docket: Nuclear Proliferation - The Capitol Record
C.R. 125, a bill recently introduced by the Council Nuclear Defense Caucus has created much controversy within the Federation Council over the modernization of the nuclear forces of the Federation. The bill calls for a total of one trillion credits to be spent over the next thirty years in upgrades to the nuclear triad. Many in the council argue that modernization is unneeded while others argue that the cornerstone of the Federation's defenses is it's nuclear arsenal. The Federation's nuclear arsenal, while no secret to the rest of the world, is not spoken of much in the halls of government ever since the horrors of nuclear war were visited upon the cities of West March during their devastating civil war. While Marchers suffered through their post atomic horrors, the rest of the world railed against nuclear weapons, preached disarmament and the end of the nuclear era. While some countries talked about reducing their nuclear weapons, others followed through; however in the Federation stockpiles were quietly increased. The weapons bought then were of older designs from the 70's and 80's, still quite capable and deadly, but in the era of 21st century high technology, new is always better. The magnetic hard disks and floppy drives that hold the Federation's land based missile system together just isn't cutting it in the eyes of many government officials as well as military generals. The missiles themselves are also due for an upgrade, the Nuclear Defense Caucus wants hyper accurate missiles that fly faster and farther and new warheads to sit atop them.
At the heart of the upgrade plans is the LGM-151 Apollo, a MIRV (Multiple Independently targetable Re-entry Vehicle) capable intercontinental ballistic missile. The missile stands ready to be adopted, some say it may even be outdated as it was designed in the late 90's, despite that, it is the newest missile the Federation is capable of producing now without going through another lengthy design process. The problem is it hasn't been tested outside of computer simulations and for many council members to be on board a test is needed before money is approved for modernization. ICBM testing has been a taboo subject for previous administrations and a test of the new warhead that would sit atop Apollo's new bow is out of the question as nuclear testing has been banned by European Forum treaties governing nuclear weapons. So all that leaves is the missile and the re-entry vehicle and in the current climate brewing in the old world a missile test right now, in the opinion of some military analysts, is asking too much. President Langley thinks otherwise, military modernization was a top priority in his last campaign and whispers within the halls of government say a test from the testing silo's McKay Air Force Base to the test ranges in the atolls around Polytopika is being planned.
OOC: Ehm, small question Last time I checked, RPing nuclear weapons were prohibited on the forum. Now I suddenly see a post about nuclear weapons. Is this post an April Fool, or were the rules changed without me knowing it?