"Russians made a really different design choice than we did," when it came to building ICBMs, said Lewis.
"Russia built nuclear weapons that are incremental improvements," or weapons that would need updating every decade or so.
On the other hand, Lewis said, "US nukes are like Ferraris: beautiful, intricate, and designed for high performance. Experts have said the plutonium pits will last for 100s of years." Indeed the US's stocks of Minuteman III ICBMS, despite their age, are "exquisite machinery, incredible things."
"Russia's nuclear weapons are newer, true, but they reflect the design philosophy that says ‘No reason to make it super fancy because we’ll just rebuild it in 10 years.’"
The philosophical differences don't end there.
"Russians love to put missiles on trucks," said Lewis, while the US prefer land-based silos, which present a reliable target and lack mobility. During the height of the Cold War, the US did at one point try a truck-launched ICBM, but US safety and durability requirements far exceeded that of the Russians rendering the platform unreasonable.
"If you look at the truck [the US] built for missiles, it’s ten times more expensive. It's radiation hardened and way less vulnerable," explained Lewis. "We gold plated the thing," he joked.
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