Additive Manufacturing, Arms Control and Delivery Vehicles: Challenges and Ways Forward

Nuclear arms control remains a priority for the foreseeable future for many stakeholders, and proposals have emerged to focus on capping nuclear warheads of the main nuclear-weapon states.

However, delivery vehicles are another source of instability and arms race dynamics. Whether they are coupled with weapons of mass destruction or considered exclusively in the context of their use with conventional weapons, missiles are increasingly transferred, produced, modernized, and used in military conflicts.

One important element in that increase is the development of technologies for advanced additive manufacturing. The importance of this technology has already been demonstrated in the civilian sector as Rocket Lab announced that parts of its Electron rocket would be produced through additive manufacturing (Winick 2019). In 2015, the weapon manufacturer Raytheon tested a design produced 80% through additive manufacturing (Raytheon News 2015). Using this technology could lower the cost of a missile program as well as, in the long term, the expertise required (Shaw 2017).

The development of offensive capabilities can also lead to a negative regional or global spiral with the increased deployment of defensive systems, and in response, new efforts to procure offensive weapons. It is therefore useful to keep thinking about ways to limit the destabilizing effect of these weapon systems. Some legal instruments currently exist in unilateral, bilateral or multilateral forums. Their focus may be limited to nonproliferation or they may cover a broader range of issues and address the behavior of states acquiring these delivery vehicles.

This article:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/25751654.2022.2047360

will discuss ways in which these instruments can evolve to better respond to current trends and dynamics regarding missiles, but also will suggest new initiatives, particularly confidence-building measures, that could be useful to reduce the destabilizing effect of these systems.

North Korea: Red Alert

The Biden administration says two North Korean missile launches in recent weeks were test firings of a powerful new long-range ICBM, and warned that a full-range test could soon follow.

The tests were of a missile reportedly larger than an ICBM North Korea launched in 2017 that was assessed to be capable of reaching the United States.

American missile defence and reconnaissance forces in the Pacific have been placed in a state of “enhanced readiness” in preparation for a full-range test, a senior administration official said.

The official outlined the US intelligence assessment of the recent launches on the condition of anonymity: “The purpose of these tests, which did not demonstrate ICBM range, was likely to evaluate this new system before conducting a test at full range in the future, potentially disguised as a space launch,” said Pentagon press secretary John Kirby in a statement.

North Korea has claimed the March 4 and February 26 launches were merely to test cameras to be installed on a future spy satellite. Multiple UN Security Council resolutions prohibit North Korea from firing ICBMs, and the US will announce a new round of sanctions meant to make it more difficult for the country to access technology needed for its weapons programmes, the official said.

The 2017 launch was part of a series of tests that prompted then-president Donald Trump to threaten North Korea’s leaders with “fire and fury” and brought the two countries to the brink of more serious conflict.

The new missile was first revealed to the public in 2020 during celebrations marking the 75th birthday of North Korea’s Communist Party in Pyongyang.

(Source: AP)