START Treaty could trim number of nuclear bombers

The new START treaty that would cut the number of U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons could also prompt the U.S. to trim the bomber leg of its nuclear force, Tom Collina of the Ploughshares-funded Arms Control Association told Defense News. "The treaty is forcing us to decide where to put our warheads," he said. And bombers are likely to be the losers."  Although many arms control advocates have pointed out that START represents only a modest reduction in total nuclear warheads, Hans Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists agrees that it is "significant in terms of extending a modern verification regime, and most important, getting the ball rolling again in these types of nitty-gritty talks between the United States and Russia. That's where the value is."