What are the options available to NATO in the debate over the continuance of its tactical nuclear capability?
By Malcolm Chalmers, RUSI Professorial Fellow Until recently, NATO’s tactical nuclear weapons seemed destined to fade away through irrelevance and obsolescence, their role having disappeared just as completely as the scenario – a mighty clash of armies in Central Europe – for which they were designed. Yet the prospect that drawdown might soon lead to complete elimination has now triggered a major debate on the role of nuclear weapons in NATO strategy. a debate pitching those who believe that it could be a relatively cost-free way of taking forward the disarmament agenda, set out in President Obama’s April 2009 Prague speech, against those who fear that it could do serious damage to the credibility of US extended nuclear deterrence. Getting from 200 weapons to zero looks set, to be much more controversial than the 90 per cent reduction (from 2500 to 200) that has taken place since 1991. What these weapons lack in operational utility (given their short range and location, together with t
