Biden should continue building intermediate-range missiles Luke Griffith December 23, 2020 Developing and deploying intermediate-range missiles would allow the Biden administration to propose an exchange of apples for apples in nuclear arms control negotiations, according to this commentary. (Patrick Semansky/AP) After withdrawing from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in August 2019, U.S. President Donald Trump envisioned a comprehensive agreement that controlled all Russian and Chinese nuclear systems, including about 100 Russian and 2,200 Chinese ground-launched, intermediate-range missiles. With the Xi government unwilling to join arms control negotiations, the Trump administration expressed interest in a bilateral deal with Russia. To augment its bargaining position and military capabilities, it secured $181 million to develop intermediate-range conventional missiles.
Year in review: Top stories from 2020 1 of 10
The U.S. Air Force confirmed to Defense News that it secretly designed, built and flew at least one prototype of its enigmatic next-generation fighter jet. With the program still in its infancy, the rollout and successful first flight of a demonstrator was not expected for years. (U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory) 2 of 10
After a year of speculation about what would happen to Turkey’s F-35s after the country was ousted from the Joint Strike Fighter program in 2019, the Pentagon announced plans to buy eight F-35A jets, originally built by Lockheed Martin for Turkey, as part of a $862 million contract modification. The deal also contained an additional six F-35As built for the U.S. Air Force and modifications that will bring the Turkish jets in line with the U.S. configuration. (dardanellas/Getty Images)