American intelligence agencies believe that North Korea is working to prepare even longer-range delivery systems to carry the nuclear warheads already in its arsenal.
Of the 2,468 operational warheads, approximately 1,968 were deployed on strategic (long-range) delivery systems, and some 500 were deployed on nonstrategic (short-range) systems.
Under the prospective new treaty, to be negotiated by December with follow-up talks to look at even deeper cuts, the total of all types of long-range delivery vehicles — land-based missiles, submarine-based missiles and bombers — would be limited to 500 to 1,100, down from the 1,600 now allowed.
Susan Q . SchwartzNew York, Sept. 10, 2008 To the Editor: Anyone who doesn't believe that jihadis are within reach of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal while the Iranians are hard at work perfecting a long-range delivery system is either naïve or in denial.
"The complete absence of evidence that Iran has hostile intentions towards the west is the most conclusive evidence we have yet seen that Iran has hostile intentions towards the west". said the President, adding that the report's lack of any indication that Iranians are working on long-range delivery systems for their non-existent nukes can only mean that they are.
At a meeting in Moscow in July Mr Obama and Mr Medvedev agreed that the new treaty would limit their arsenals to between 500 and 1,100 long-range delivery vehicles (missiles, aircraft and submarines) and 1,500 to 1,675 deployed warheads apiece.
HGVs will be important means for rapid long-range delivery in the future.
Iran's sole medium-range delivery system is an unreliable, inaccurate 1,500 km ranged Shahab-3.
However, we're in new territory here when it comes to the wide-range delivery speed of anxiety-provoking news, yet still dealing with the primal reactive emotions of our forefathers.
And it now will only promise an hour-long range of delivery times.
