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US adds 'low yield' nuclear weapon to its submarine arsenal

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The Pentagon's top policy official tells The Associated Press that the United States for the first time has deployed the newest addition to its nuclear arsenal — a submarine-launched weapon that the Trump administration says will make nuclear war less likely.

Congressional critics call the weapon a dangerous and unnecessary addition.

The deployment fulfills a Pentagon promise announced two years ago this month to produce and field a so-called “low yield” warhead atop a Trident ballistic missile carried aboard strategic submarines in the Atlantic and Pacific.

The stated purpose of adding this weapon is to counter Russia's nuclear war-fighting strategy.