Some of this is about making arms manufactures and generals happy, but it is also about the fact that the last war the US won was Grenada. The US military lost in Afghanistan and Iraq, made of mess of Libya, Somalia and Syria, and is trying to extract itself from a stalemate in Yemen.
Just suppose some of those wars were fought with low-yield nukes? While it seems deranged -- like using hand grenades to get rid of kitchen ants -- some argue that if we don't take the gloves off we will continue to lose wars or get bogged down in stalemates.
The Pentagon knows the Russians are not a conventional threat because the US and NATO vastly outnumber and out spend Moscow. China is more of a conventional challenge, but any major clash could go nuclear and no one wants that.
According to the Pentagon, the W76-2 may be used to respond "to significant non-nuclear strategic attacks" on the US or its allies' "infrastructure," including cyber war. That could include Iran.
Early in his term, President Trump asked why the US can't use its nuclear weapons. If Washington successfully torpedoes START II and re-starts testing, he may get to do exactly that.
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