The US Navy (USN) has fielded the W76-2 low-yield submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) warhead, John Rood, US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy said

The US Navy (USN) has fielded the W76-2 low-yield submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) warhead, John Rood, US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy said on 4 February in a statement. "In the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review, the department identified the requirement to 'modify a small number of submarine-launched ballistic missile warheads' to address the conclusion that potential adversaries, like Russia, believe that employment of low-yield nuclear weapons will give them an advantage over the United States and its allies and partners," Rood said. "This supplemental capability strengthens deterrence and provides the United States a prompt, more survivable low-yield strategic weapon; supports our commitment to extended deterrence; and demonstrates to potential adversaries that there is no advantage to limited nuclear employment because the United States can credibly and decisively respond to any threat scenario," he said. https://www.janes.com/article/94100/pentagon-confirms-deployment-of-w76-2-low-yield-submarine-launched-ballistic-missile https://www.janes.com/article/94100/pentagon-confirms-deploy... Wow, I was just about to argue that this is not about the Russians - but the DoD claims that it is. So the battle scenario is that Russia uses a small nuke on a US carrier group. What's the US response? You can't immediately escalate to full MAD, a proportionate response is needed, hence the small nuke. It definitely does lower the threshold for use of nuclear weapons though. Personally I feel a better solution would have been renewed SALT talks and an agreement from nuclear states to not go down this path. More and a greater variety of nuclear weapons is bad.