Brian Bradley
NS&D Monitor
2/20/2015
The Air Force is striving to increase its force end strength by 6,600 personnel, a boost intended, in part, to “bolster” nuclear forces, Secretary Deborah Lee James said last week. Speaking at the Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando Feb. 13, James spoke about the service’s planned investments in the nuclear enterprise, and said officials hope to bring the total force end strength up to 492,000. “We want no more downsizing,” she said, going on to state, “492,000 should give us the breathing room to alleviate some operational strain, to bolster our nuclear enterprise, to increase the number of cyber teams, and plug some holes that … I have seen over the course of the last year in a variety of units.”
James also pledged to strengthen the nuclear enterprise by adding funding for intercontinental ballistic missile “readiness,” restoring funding to the B-2 Defensive Management System’s (DMS) direct attack capability, and paying for B-52 sustainment and modernization programs. But future funding for the B-2 DMS and Minuteman 3 command and control is uncertain, as Maj. Gen. James Martin, Air Force Deputy Assistant Secretary for Budget, said earlier this month that those budget plans could be scaled back or canceled if the Defense Department is forced to spend at Budget Control Act levels in Fiscal Year 2016.
Furthermore, officials have said ICBM command-and-control will be integral to developing the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) expected to replace the Minuteman 3 beginning in 2027, and at the conference James highlighted service plans to invest in the weapon system and accelerate production of the long-range standoff weapon. “The nuclear enterprise is number one for us in the Air Force, so the budget supports this priority by, among other things, developing the Minuteman fleet ICBM follow-on program and accelerating the long-range standoff weapon by two years,” she said. The service is requesting $75 million in Fiscal Year 2016 and plans to spend $944 million over the Future Years’ Defense Program for the GBSD.
