Top generals with the U.S. Air Force on Friday reaffirmed their call for continued modernization and recapitalization of the country’s nuclear capabilities.
“We must modernize our aging delivery platforms, nuclear weapons and supporting infrastructure so that America’s deterrent remains credible and effective in the future,” Gen. David Goldfein, the service’s chief of staff, and Gen. Robin Rand, commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, wrote in a May 12 editorial in Politico Magazine.
The two officers cited the modernization and expansion of the United States’ adversaries’ nuclear capabilities as a key reason to support upgrades to U.S. nuclear forces. They said a reliable nuclear arsenal is also necessary to deter large-scale conventional war.
Goldfein and Rand highlighted the aging two Air Force legs of the U.S. nuclear triad: the decades-old intercontinental ballistic missiles, ICBM launch, and weapon storage facilities; and the bomber and air-launched cruise missile forces. All three legs of the triad are undergoing long-term upgrades at an estimated cost of approximately $1 trillion over 30 years.
Modernization of the nuclear deterrent would cost roughly 5 percent of the overall Defense Department budget in the coming 10 years, the generals said. “While not an insignificant bill, history has shown the nation’s outlays supporting our strategic deterrent are well worth the investment, especially when compared to the costs—financial and in lives lost—of world wars that we have not experienced since 1945,” they said.
