Brian Bradley
NS&D Monitor
2/2/2015
Outlining the Air Force’s proposed Fiscal Year 2016 budget today, Maj. Gen. James Martin, Air Force Assistant Secretary for Budget, warned that elements of the nuclear enterprise could be jeopardized by sequestration. The Air Force’s budget request includes $272 million for the B-2 defensive management system, up $98.8 million from current levels; and $287 million for modernization of Minuteman 3 command and control facilities, about $147 million more than the FY 2015-enacted amount. Martin, though, highlighted both programs as targets for cuts if sequestration goes into effect next year; overall the Pentagon is requesting $585 billion next year, exceeding the Budget Control Act cap by approximately $85 billion. “These listed actions are required to try to save $10 billion in one year,” Martin said. “So we would look at all the different options as we go forward, and that’s something that we would work with [the Office of the Secretary of Defense] and also Congress before we made final actions.”
Officials Cited Need to Update Aging Facilities
Officials have recently cited the need to modernize the aging nuclear weapons infrastructure, which includes equipment in launch control centers and launch facilities. Maj. Gen. Garrett Harencak, Air Force Assistant Chief of Staff for Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Integration, during a speech last month that the service was overhauling the 50-year-old nuclear command, control and communications (NC3) architecture, which includes a nationwide network of underground cables buried in the 1960s. “Certainly, we’re going to upgrade,” Harencak said. “We can’t use those 5 ½-inch floppy disks anymore, although those have been great as far as protecting against the cyber threat because no one else uses them in the world. But obviously we’re going to have to upgrade that, but let’s really look how we can maintain a safe, secure and effective ICBM system.” The FY16 request also includes $75 million in FY 2016 for the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent. Harencak said the service was looking at integrating aspects of the upgraded NC3 architecture into the Minuteman 3 follow-on system.
The FY 2016 budget request comes after Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in November announced that DoD planned to increase funding for the nuclear enterprise by an additional 10 percent over the next five years to help revamp U.S. Strategic Command, after one internal and one external review found multiple morale- and resource-based issues within the Air Force’s nuclear enterprise. Hagel commissioned the reviews after in January 2014, revelations detailing widespread cheating among Malmstrom AFB missileers surfaced.
Request Includes Money for Bombers and ICBMs
The request also includes $32.5 million for modification of B-2s, $8.6 million more than the $23.9 million enacted in FY 2015, and $38.8 million for B-2 post-production support, a decrease from FY 2015 enacted levels of $44.8 million. For B-52 modification, the service is requesting $149 million compared with the FY 2015-enacted amount of $176.5 million, and for B-52 post-production support, the service is requesting $5.9 million, approximately the same as the FY 2015-enacted amount of $5.2 million. The Air Force also requested $94 million for ballistic missiles, $13.8 million more than the FY 2015-enacted amount. Mike McCord, Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) also said today that DoD plans to continue its posture of 450 ICBMs, 96 operational bombers and 154 total bombers in FY 2016.
