The US is not ready for a nuclear showdown with China, key conservatives warn Trump

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Heritage warns US nuclear weapons are decades too old and not ready to take on China

A group of influential conservatives and lawmakers is warning the Trump administration that the U.S. does not have the tactical nuclear weapons to fight China if war broke out in the Indo-Pacific. (Credit: The Heritage Foundation)

FIRST ON FOX: A group of influential conservatives and lawmakers is warning the Trump administration that the U.S. does not have the tactical nuclear weapons to fight China if war breaks out in the Indo-Pacific. 

A 13-minute video obtained by Fox News Digital and set for release Thursday by the Heritage Foundation argues the U.S. nuclear arsenal is outdated, with the newest weapons nearly 40 years old – about as modern as a grandpa's vintage Corvette.

Military experts across Washington have begun gaming out the potential scenario if China invades Taiwan and the U.S. comes to the island democracy’s aid. 

The video opens by putting forth a scenario where China may launch a tactical nuclear weapon to destroy the U.S. Air Force Base at Guam, killing 3,000, in "an attempt to change the tide of the battle in their favor." 

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Military vehicles carrying DF-41 intercontinental ballistic missiles travel past Tiananmen Square during the military parade marking the 70th founding anniversary of People's Republic of China, in Beijing, Oct. 1, 2019. (Reuters/Jason Lee)

"The president wants to respond in kind by targeting a similar Chinese target with our own tactical nuclear weapon. There's only one problem with all this: we probably couldn't do such a mission if we tried." 

The video argues the U.S. has abandoned its buildup of tactical nuclear weapons, which are forceful but smaller and more targeted in their destruction than earth-shattering strategic nuclear weapons. 

Since the end of the Cold War, according to Bob Peters, strategic deterrence fellow at Heritage, the U.S. has "dramatically reduced the number of nuclear weapons around the world, signed multiple arms control agreements with the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation, and today has an arsenal that is roughly 85% smaller than the ones it fielded at the height of the Cold War."

The U.S. removed naval and land-based tactical nuclear weapons from Korea in 1991 and retired the nuclear variants of the Tomahawk cruise missile that were stationed across the Pacific. 

"We had Russia, we thought, under control with the breakup of the Soviet Union. We always thought China would be an economic threat," Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., a top member on the Armed Services Committee, said in the clip. 

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China has been building up its missile capabilities, including strategic and tactical nukes. (Reuters/Stringer)

But now, China has tripled its nuclear arsenal over the past five years, and plans to go from 500 to 1,000 warheads by 2030. 

The newest nuclear weapon in the U.S. arsenal is now over 35 years old, Peters points out, and many are decades older, "meant to be retired and replaced in the 1980s." 

"Like a 1975 Cadillac bought by our grandfather, we've been keeping America's strategic deterrence on life support," said Peters. 

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, blamed it on a decades-long focus on the Middle East, at the expense of containing threats in the Indo-Pacific region.

"Part of this is a hangover from what I call endless wars, where, instead of having that strong deterrence, we got involved with, you know, a quarter-century of endless conflict that caused a great toll, both in terms of blood and treasure." 

China has not only been building up its strategic and tactical nuclear weapons, but its anti-ship nuclear capabilities and its fractional orbital bombardment systems, space-based platforms that can drop munitions, including nuclear ones, from space onto the Earth’s surface. 

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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi earlier this month to discuss nuclear weapons. (Pool via Reuters)

"At the same time, China's building nuclear-capable long-range hypersonic missiles that could in time be able to deliver nuclear weapons to the American homeland with little to no notice," Peters warned. 

The video argues that the U.S. has too few tactical nuclear weapons when compared with China – weapons that would offer a forceful response but avoid population-decimating strategic nukes. 

"Right now, we’re preaching about arms control but building nothing," the video states.  "We must modernize the existing strategic arsenal and replace the decades-old warheads and missiles that were meant to be retired in the 1980s and 1990s."

"We need a much stronger but modern Navy," said Roy. "Not built on what K Street contractors are saying they need to be, but rather, what do we actually need?"

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"The world is really watching both allies and adversaries. Is the United States going to accept decline and live in a world in which the Chinese, the Russians, perhaps the Iran regime and the North Koreans can successfully coerce the United States of America to prevent us from moving in the world on terms that benefit the American people in our prosperity and freedom?" said Rebecca Heinrichs, senior fellow with Heritage. 

"The United States must field the military capabilities that will convince the Chinese leadership that today is not the day to pick a fight with the United States or its allies," said Adm. Charles Richard, former head of U.S. Strategic Command.