The survivability of nuclear command-and-control capabilities

Developments in nuclear and precise nonnuclear munitions, cyber capabilities, and anti-satellite weapons are reducing the survivability of many nuclear command, control, communications, and intelligence (C3I) assets. However, given the apparent invulnerability of a few such assets, the Chinese, Russian, and U.S. systems for enabling retaliation after an attempted disarming strike are currently survivable. Moreover, if states take advantage of countervailing technological developments – most importantly, large constellations of small satellites – those systems are likely to remain survivable. That said, some trade-offs – between survivable C3I capabilities and survivable delivery systems, and between resilience against kinetic attack and cyberattack – will arise.