The treaty limits each country to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers, and envisages sweeping on-site inspections to verify compliance.
With the official withdrawal from the treaty, which allowed the U.S. and Russia overflight rights to inspect military facilities, only one arms-control pact is still in force between the former Cold War foes.
The Japanese city of Nagasaki on Sunday marked its 75th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing, with the mayor and dwindling survivors urging world leaders including their own to do more for a nuclear weapons ban.
Under a proposed defense policy bill, the U.S. Army would have to brief Congress on plans to upgrade weapons for the Stryker combat vehicle amid the service’s efforts to reassure industry about the competition.
China and its increasingly sophisticated and far-flung military sit atop U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s list of international security worries, but in Europe a bigger concern is closer to home: Russia.
A senior Russian diplomat raised concern Wednesday about the United States deploying a new submarine-launched nuclear weapon, saying the move signaled Washington's belief that it could wage a limited nuclear conflict.