Episode Summary:

In this episode, Heather “Lucky” Penney chats about a key component of the nuclear triad with Chris Adams, sector vice president and general manager for Strategic Space Systems at Northrop Grumman, and Jen "Boots" Reeves, Senior Fellow for Space Studies at Mitchell Institute.

The nuclear triad forms the bedrock of America’s national security. The idea is simple: to hold enemy nations at risk to such a degree that they will never cross certain lines. For this to work, our nuclear enterprise needs to be highly resilient, dependable, and zero fail. We normally focus on the weapons portion of the enterprise: ICBMs, SLBMs, and air launched weapons from bombers and certain fighters. And while those technologies are obviously critical, the ability to use them demands an incredibly safe and secure command and control system—what we call nuclear command, control, and communications—or NC3 for short. People often take that part of the enterprise for granted because it’s largely invisible. Chris and Jen talk about the NC3 enterprise—outlining why it’s so important and explaining why it must be modernized.

Credits:

Host: Heather “Lucky” Penney, Senior Resident Fellow, The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies

Producer: Shane Thin 

Executive Producer: Douglas Birkey

Guest: Christopher Adams, Sector Vice President and General Manager, Strategic Space Systems division (SSSD), Space Systems sector, Northrop Grumman

Guest: Jennifer "Boots" Reeves, Senior Resident Fellow for Space Studies, The Mitchell Institute Spacepower Advantage Center of Excellence

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