Delivery Systems & Nuclear Triad

The National Nuclear Security Administration would be authorized to spend $375 million more than requested on a plutonium pit factory at the Savannah River Site in fiscal year 2023, if a bill passed early Thursday morning by the House Armed Services Committee becomes law. The agency would also be allowed, along with the Navy, to […]

The House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday voted for more scrutiny of Department of Energy nuclear-weapon-site contracting and against a proposal to condition funding for the Secretary of Defense’s office on an intercontinental ballistic missile test. The votes were part of the committee’s debate of the fiscal year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the […]

The House Appropriations defense subcommittee was set to mark up the first draft of the Pentagon’s fiscal 2023 budget on Wednesday, and the bill contains no funding for the nuclear-tipped Sea Launched Cruise Missile, according to a summary the subcommittee released Tuesday morning. The legislation, telegraphed in March by the recommendation in President Joe Biden’s […]

House authorizers want to kill a megaton-capable gravity bomb and a nuclear-tipped, sea-launched cruise missile, but their counterparts in the Senate do not. The split on the Hill over the two weapons, which the Joe Biden administration wants to kill, was revealed Thursday in dueling National Defense Authorization Acts (NDAA) for fiscal year 2023.  Democrats […]

The leader of the House Armed Services Committee said Monday he sees “tough fights” ahead over President Biden’s proposals to cut the Navy’s nuclear-tipped sea-launched cruise missile program and retire B-83 gravity bombs as Congress takes up the next defense policy bill. Committee chair Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said he agreed with both policy proposals […]

The leader of the House Armed Services Committee said Monday he sees “tough fights” ahead over President Biden’s proposals to cut the Navy’s nuclear-tipped sea-launched cruise missile program and retire B-83 gravity bombs as Congress takes up the next defense policy bill. Committee chair Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said he agreed with both policy proposals […]

Faulty missile tubes that earlier consumed months of schedule margin on the next-generation U.S. nuclear-armed, ballistic missile submarines are not pacing the schedule for the boats any more, the admiral in charge of the U.S. program said Thursday. “I retain margin on missile tubes,” Read Adm. Scott Pappano, the U.S. Navy’s program executive officer for […]

President Joe Biden’s plans to cease development of a nuclear-tipped, sea-launched cruise missile and to cancel a refresh for the B83 megaton-capable gravity bomb won’t make it through Congress, a key Republican House member predicted this week. “The president’s budget’s talking about getting rid of the sea-launched cruise missile and some of the B83 gravity […]

President Joe Biden’s plans to cease development of a nuclear-tipped, sea-launched cruise missile and to cancel a refresh for the B83 megaton-capable gravity bomb won’t make it through Congress, a key Republican House member predicted Monday. “The president’s budget’s talking about getting rid of the sea-launched cruise missile and some of the B83 gravity bombs, […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration seeks no funding for fiscal year 2023 for either a nuclear, sea-launched cruise-missile warhead or for previously planned alternations for the B83 gravity bomb, according to the agency’s full budget request for the year. The news follows the Navy’s disclosure last week that it would seek Congress’ permission to cancel […]

The Navy is killing its nuclear-tipped sea-launched cruise missile program because it would cost too much money to build the weapon, which the service says cannot be built in time anyway. “The program was cost prohibitive and the acquisition schedule would have delivered capability late to need,” the Navy wrote recently in a 181-page highlight book […]

The U.S. Air Force in fiscal 2023 is requesting almost $981 million for the Long Range Standoff Missile that Raytheon is developing for the service — nearly $382 million more than appropriated by Congress in fiscal 2022 and more than $615 million more than the fiscal 2021 budget. Of the $980.8 million the Air Force […]

The U.S. Air Force in fiscal 2023 is requesting almost $981 million for the Long Range Standoff Missile that Raytheon is developing for the service — nearly $382 million more than appropriated by Congress in fiscal 2022 and more than $615 million more than the fiscal 2021 budget. Of the $980.8 million the Air Force […]

The Navy is killing its nuclear-tipped sea-launched cruise missile program because it would cost too much money to build the weapon, which the service says cannot be built in time anyway. “The program was cost prohibitive and the acquisition schedule would have delivered capability late to need,” the Navy wrote recently in a 181-page highlight […]

The W93 submarine-launched ballistic missile warhead, the first in decades that is not a refurbishment of a weapon already sailing the seas, will be in line for a big budget increase if Congress goes along with the Joe Biden administration’s fiscal year 2023 budget request. W93, led by the Los Alamos National Laboratory, would see […]

The W93 submarine-launched ballistic missile warhead, the first in decades that is not a refurbishment of a weapon already sailing the seas, will be in line for a big budget increase if Congress goes along with the Joe Biden administration’s fiscal year 2023 budget request. W93, led by the Los Alamos National Laboratory, would see […]

In congressional testimony in the House and Senate this week, the top-ranked U.S. general again touted his support for the low-yield, nuclear-tipped sea-launched cruise missile the Joe Biden administration wants to cancel. The U.S. has “lots of options” and a “significant nuclear capability” even without the missile endorsed in 2018 by the Donald Trump administration, […]

The Department of the Air Force has designated the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent next generation intercontinental ballistic missile under development by Northrop Grumman the LGM-35A Sentinel. “The name Sentinel recognizes the mindset that thousands of airmen, past and present, have brought to the deterrence mission, and will serve as a reminder for those who operate, […]

The Department of the Air Force has designated the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent next generation intercontinental ballistic missile under development by Northrop Grumman the LGM-35A Sentinel. “The name Sentinel recognizes the mindset that thousands of airmen, past and present, have brought to the deterrence mission, and will serve as a reminder for those who operate, […]

The top-ranked U.S. general again touted his support for the low-yield, nuclear-tipped sea-launched cruise missile the Joe Biden administration wants to cancel, this time at the invitation of House Republicans during Tuesday’s Armed Services Committee hearing. Gen. Mark Milley’s position on the nuclear sea-launched cruise missile, SLCM-N, “has not changed,” the chairman of the Joint […]

In light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, now in its seventh day, the Democratic controlled House and its Armed Services Committee are certain to authorize an increase in the defense budget for fiscal year 2023, the committee’s leader said Thursday. “It’s gonna go up,” Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the Armed Services chair, said in a […]

In light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, now in its seventh day, the Democratic controlled House and its Armed Services Committee are certain to authorize an increase in the defense budget for fiscal year 2023, the committee’s leader said Thursday. “It’s gonna go up,” Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the Armed Services chair, said in a […]

Northrop Grumman’s 2021 revenue showed a $1-billion bump from the ramp-up of the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent nuclear-tipped, intercontinental ballistic missile program, the company reported this week in its latest annual 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. On the whole, the sale of the company’s IT business in February depressed sales and earnings, […]

Losing Britain’s nuclear weapons business took a small bite out of Lockheed Martin’s 2021 earnings, which fell overall for the year, despite underlying signs of strength in operations, the company reported this week. Despite the renationalization of the United Kingdom’s nuclear-weapons complex in July 2021, segment sales and operating profits at Lockheed’s Space segment — […]

Losing Britain’s nuclear weapons business took a small bite out of Lockheed Martin’s 2021 earnings, which fell overall for the year, despite underlying signs of strength in operations, the company reported this week. Despite the renationalization of the United Kingdom’s nuclear-weapons complex in July 2021, segment sales and operating profits at Lockheed’s Space segment — […]

Big nuclear weapons programs could be delayed if the government cannot agree on a 2022 budget and instead stretches last year’s budgets through the rest of the current fiscal year, the Air Force’s chief of staff said Wednesday in congressional testimony. Gen. C.Q. Brown, the Air Force chief of staff, said the service could lose […]

Big nuclear weapons programs could be delayed if the government cannot agree on a 2022 budget and instead stretches last year’s budgets through the rest of the current fiscal year, the Air Force’s chief of staff said Wednesday in congressional testimony. Gen. C.Q. Brown, the Air Force chief of staff, said the service could lose […]

The Air Force’s F-35A variant should still be certified to carry a pair of B61-12 bombs by fiscal year 2026 and the first flight test of a non-nuclear W87-0 warhead mockup should still fly on a Ground Based Strategic Deterrent missile in December 2023, the head of Air Force Global Strike Command said Thursday. And […]

As the Biden administration conducts its Nuclear Posture Review, the administration is opposing a draft defense authorization bill provision that would prohibit a reduction below 400 Boeing Minuteman III ICBMs. Section 1626 of a House report on its version of the bill “would prohibit the Department of Defense from reducing, or preparing to reduce, the […]

Editor’s note, 11/19/2021, 12:41 p.m. Eastern time. The story was changed to show that the program has two months of margin, according to the Navy’s program executive officer for strategic submarines.   The Navy’s Columbia-class submarine program could be down to as little as two months of margin, the admiral in charge of the program […]