Navy officials are concerned about the Administration’s decision to slow refurbishment of the W76 nuclear warhead in the FY 2013 request, which stretches the life extension program to 2021. The plan will meet the Navy’s operational requirements, but pushes back the completion of hedge warheads for three years and erases any room for error from the production schedule, which is what has Navy officials worried. Adm. Jonathan Greenert, the service’s Chief of Naval Operations, has previously said that the Navy was concerned with the decision, and Rear Adm. Terry Benedict, the Director of the Navy’s Strategic Systems Programs, elaborated slightly on those concerns on the sidelines of the a Senate subcommittee hearing yesterday. “We’re eating all of the margin,” Benedict told NW&M Monitor. “We’re eating into the margin, and that’s the concern.” And with so much uncertainty floating around Capitol Hill about future budgets, that has Navy officials worried. “I think the concern is the fact that we’re not on the original baseline schedule, which is a true statement,” Benedict said. “As you heard in there, there are challenges that we face every single day and will we stay on the adjusted schedule?”
Jobs