u/Afrogthatribbits

Lots of nuclear related news lately!

The latest massive joint nuclear exercise carried out by Russia with Belarus involved both strategic and non-strategic (tactical) nuclear weapons.

Most interestingly, Russia stated that actual nuclear weapons were delivered to the combat units during the exercise, which is quite unusual.

Iskander-M* cruise missiles, Belarusian Iskander ballistic missiles, and Belarusian Su-25s may have been involved. The exercise involved transfer of warheads from 12th Chief Directorate (central storage/maintenance) to combat units, likely mating of missiles and live warheads, and possibly transfer to Belarusian troops.

For more details and sources see: https://russianforces.org/blog/2026/05/russia-belarus_non-strategic_n.shtml

It is not unprecedented to use live warheads during exercises. Apparently, the French routinely use actual nuclear warheads during recurring exercises at their airbases for psychological and operational reasons, but it is very unusual for Russia to do so. There is no reason to be overly alarmed (such as Annie Jacobson), but this is still a significant change.

https://x.com/russianforces/status/2057578605887082555

*the common Iskander-K designation is erroneous

Recently, some German media reports, citing NATO intelligence, have claimed there are classified Russian plans to base nuclear missiles on the Arctic seabed.

See:

https://united24media.com/world/russia-allegedly-developing-secret-project-to-plant-nuclear-missiles-on-the-arctic-ocean-seabed-19067

https://www.tagesschau.de/investigativ/ndr-wdr/russland-militaer-geheimprojekt-ruestung-100.html

Note that there is no available hard evidence to support those claims.

I thought this was especially interesting since the US studied the concept with the Project Sunrise/ORCA and Hydra concepts for deployment of MX/Peacekeeper. ORCA would've placed canisters directly on the seabed and communicate via acoustic systems, while Hydra would use floating missile canisters deployed by boats across the world. ORCA and the alleged Skif would violate the 1971 Seabed Arms Control Treaty, which bans deploying nuclear weapons on the seafloor in international waters.

For more details see:

https://youtu.be/YyJjfCpfnI4 (ORCA)

https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/orca-missile-system-project-sunrise-containerized-seafloor-based-icbm.21650/ (ORCA)

https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA101587.pdf (Hydra)

https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2021/january/hail-hydra-return-sea-launched-missile (Hydra)

(image 1 of ORCA, image 2 of Hydra)

The AIM-260 JATM is the successor to the AIM-120 AMRAAM.

https://theaviationist.com/2026/05/15/aim-260-jatm-on-super-hornet/

Project Sapphire was a secret mission carried out by the US and Kazakhstan in 1994 to remove a large stockpile of 1,322 lbs (600 kg) of 90% highly enriched uranium. This uranium, planned to fuel cancelled Alfa-class submarines, was enough for roughly 20 bombs and had been stored in a poorly secured warehouse at the Ulba Metallurgical Plant in Kazakhstan. The security consisted of a "Civil War padlock" and the HEU was stored in buckets placed on plywood platforms with documentation on dog tags. The US flew in 3 C-5 Galaxies to carry the total of 4,850 lbs of material, which included the HEU and other material, some contaminated with beryllium, stored in 448 containers. It eventually arrived at Oak Ridge in unmarked Safe Secure Transporters from the DoE's Office of Secure Transportation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Sapphire

https://armscontrolcenter.org/fact-sheet-project-sapphire/

https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB491/

https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB491/docs/01%20-%20After%20Action%20report%20DTRA.pdf

https://kz.usembassy.gov/project-sapphire-30-years-of-u-s-kazakhstan-nuclear-security-cooperation/

Some comparisons have been made to a possible US mission in Iran against the Isfahan facility which stores much of Iran's 60% HEU, however this is a very different situation. Obviously, it is harder to do with people shooting you, and it is also buried under a mountain with the tunnels sealed. If the US does make a deal with Iran that would permit the US removal of HEU, as has been claimed by the US government, then we would probably see something similar to this.