Darrell Castle talks about the recent attack on one leg of Russia's nuclear triad and what that means for the United States, for Europe, and of course for Russia.

Transcription / Notes

ATTACKING THE NUCLEAR DETERRENT

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 6th of June in the year of our Lord 2025. I will be talking about a recent attack on one leg of Russia’s nuclear triad and what that means for the United States, for Europe, and of course for Russia. This, I suppose, is the second part of my Castle Report which focused on the changing face of war and my conclusion that it means the end of the aircraft carrier as the dominant force of naval warfare, and the end of the tank as the dominant force of land warfare.

Yes, the blitzkrieg of Heinz Guderian and the great carrier battles are most likely relics of past wars now but the future of war looks even more terrifying to me. Why, well because death now comes from an unmanned robot controlled by some technician perhaps thousands of miles away in a Quonset hut, with little to no human interaction.

 Today  the attack by Ukraine deep inside Russia severely damaged Russia’s strategic nuclear delivery system. The three great nuclear powers, the U.S., Russia, and China all have what is normally referred as a nuclear triad which prevents any leg of the three-legged stool from keeping that nation from responding to a nuclear attack.

That triad consists of long-range nuclear bombers, submarine launched nuclear missiles, and intercontinental ballistic missiles. The triad of final nuclear defense prevents either of the three nations from final defeat in a total nuclear catastrophe which would leave the victor without much to celebrate. Over and over, I warn that total defeat of Russia is not possible while that nation’s missiles are still in their silos and their submarines still patrol the oceans.

Nevertheless, a few days ago Ukraine launched a massive drone attack 2700 miles inside Russia which destroyed several of Russia’s long-range strategic bombers. Initial reports said 41 planes destroyed, but even Ukraine admitted that the number was more like 13 destroyed and several damaged. The Russians say that only 5 were destroyed so we can conclude that some were destroyed but how many is anyone’s guess.

Apparently, these bombers were some of Russia’s most prized aerial assets and were vital to their nuclear triad. These aircraft were of a type no longer in production so replacing them will be very difficult and costly if it is even possible. In response, Russia of course launched its own massive drone attack inside Ukraine with 472 drones and 7 ballistic and cruise missiles. That will not be the end of the Russian response because Putin told President Trump in a recent phone call that he will have to respond so maybe the deep state is close to getting its war.

This attack was more than just a bold and aggressive strike deep inside Russia against Russian air bases, it was a glaring example of the new face of war that is unlike anything the world has seen before. The Ukrainians proved with one attack how outdated the old aircraft carrier on the seas and battle tanks on the land now are. They made their own aircraft carrier out of a semi-truck and transported that carrier full of armed drones into Russia using personnel who appeared to be Russian.

I have seen conflicting reports but recent after-action reports say 36% of Russian strategic aircraft worth about $2 billion were destroyed. This attack came on Sunday the day before peace talks were held in Turkey to try to resolve the conflict. It gave Zelensky a chance to brag about just having destroyed another chance at peace. Anyway, the peace talks went nowhere and reportedly lasted only 3 hours. So, all that work, preparation and expense apparently for nothing. Sometimes it seems to me that everyone in charge of anything is crazy.