---

When the US Air Force’s Northrop Grumman B-21 bomber talks to the long-range standoff (LRSO) weapon, it will mark the first time a nuclear cruise missile communicates digitally with its delivery aircraft.

The USAF knows its next generation of nuclear weapons will be linked to a network. What it does not know is who else might be able to communicate with its most tenuous arsenal.

That is part of what a 2017 USAF Scientific Advisory Board study will delve into, as it examines certification and surety concerns for the recapitalised nuclear force. As new threats crop up in a digital landscape, the board will try to understand what other criteria must be developed to assess nuclear systems.

“These systems are going to be quite different from the ones that they may replace,” Scientific Advisory Board chair Werner Dahm told reporters during a December meeting at the Pentagon. “In particular, they will be much more like all systems today: network connected. They’ll be cyber enabled. That introduces potential surety concerns.”

As other conventional platforms have evolved, the nuclear force’s communication system has remained static. During a recent speech in Washington DC, USAF chief of staff Gen David Goldfein showed an 8in floppy disk – technology dating back to the early 1970s – to illustrate the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) system’s vintage communication system. While the floppy disks remain functional, the service plans to replace them, to address obsolescence concerns.

“It is tough to hack,” Goldfein joked before striking a more sober tone, adding: “We require these today in the missile field – it’s time to modernise.”

---

---

Takes "Safety Critical Software" to a whole new level......

---

---

We've only managed to avoid accidental armageddon over the last 70 years or so through pure dumb luck.

---

---

In his first call as president with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump denounced a treaty that caps U.S. and Russian deployment of nuclear warheads as a bad deal for the United States, according to two U.S. officials and one former U.S. official with knowledge of the call.
When Putin raised the possibility of extending the 2010 treaty, known as New START, Trump paused to ask his aides in an aside what the treaty was, these sources said.

---

---

The phone call with Putin has added to concerns that Trump is not adequately prepared for discussions with foreign leaders.
Typically, before a telephone call with a foreign leader, a president receives a written in-depth briefing paper drafted by National Security Council staff after consultations with the relevant agencies, including the State Department, Pentagon and intelligence agencies, two former senior officials said.
Just before the call, the president also usually receives an oral "pre-briefing" from his national security adviser and top subject-matter aide, they said.
Trump did not receive a briefing from Russia experts with the NSC and intelligence agencies before the Putin call, two of the sources said. Reuters was unable to determine if Trump received a briefing from his national security adviser Michael Flynn.
In the phone call, the Russian leader raised the possibility of reviving talks on a range of disputes and suggested extending New START, the sources said.
New START can be extended for another five years, beyond 2021, by mutual agreement. Unless they agree to do that or negotiate new cuts, the world's two biggest nuclear powers would be freed from the treaty's limits, potentially setting the stage for a new arms race.

---