Warhead & Weapons Development

The House Armed Services Committee so far does not plan a hearing on a Democrat-sponsored bill to ban development of a low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic missile warhead, the panel’s chairman said Tuesday. In a press gaggle with Capitol Hill reporters, Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) said the House would recess after this week until the Nov. 6 midterm […]

The House Armed Services Committee so far does not plan a hearing on a Democrat-sponsored bill to ban development of an low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic missile warhead, the panel’s chairman said Tuesday. In a press gaggle with Capitol Hill reporters, Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) said the House would recess after this week until the Nov. 6 midterm […]

Democrats in the House and Senate on Tuesday unveiled legislative language that would ban research, development, manufacturing, and fielding of the planned low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic-missile warhead for which Congress and the White House approved $65 million in funding during the fiscal year that begins in 13 days. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) sponsored the House bill, with co-sponsors Reps. […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration announced last week it completed a pair of flight tests on non-nuclear components of the B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb near the Nevada National Test Site. “The tests involved releasing a B61-12 non-nuclear test assembly, which includes the NNSA designed bomb assembly and U.S. Air Force acquired tail-kit, from a B-2A […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration announced last week it completed a pair of flight tests on non-nuclear components of the B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb near the Nevada National Test Site. “The tests involved releasing a B61-12 non-nuclear test assembly, which includes the NNSA designed bomb assembly and U.S. Air Force acquired tail-kit, from a B-2A […]

The House of Representatives approved a defense spending bill this week that would phase out development of a nuclear warhead usable on both Navy and Air Force missiles, while the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a companion bill that could delay deployment of a planned low-yield nuclear warhead. The House approved its version of the 2019 […]

The military spending bill awaiting a vote by the full House of Representatives this week would sustain the press to move away from an Obama-administration proposal to build nuclear warheads usable on Navy and Air Force missiles. The House’s Department of Defense Appropriations Act, if signed into law, would provide only half the funding the […]

The Senate on Monday approved a 2019 appropriations package that includes a little under $15 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), fully funding development of a new low-yield warhead but coming up short of the administration’s request for nuclear-weapons infrastructure. The Senate passed the so-called minibus appropriations package 86-5 after a nearly a […]

The Senate this week approved a fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act that would clear the way for the National Nuclear Security Administration to build one, and possibly more, low-yield nuclear warheads. The bill also would prohibit the semi-autonomous Department of Energy agency from dismantling the unfinished Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility in South Carolina […]

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who this week voted against the Senate’s fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act because it would authorize the Department of Energy to create a low-yield nuclear warhead, has signaled her support for a 2019 budget bill that actually funds the weapon. However, Feinstein also wants to amend the spending bill to […]

The Senate late Monday approved a fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act that would clear the way for the Department of Energy to build one, and possibly more, low-yield nuclear warheads. The Senate bill also would prohibit DOE from dismantling the unfinished Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility in South Carolina for at least a year, […]

Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) this week resumed casting enriched uranium at the World War II-vintage Building 9212 at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., a company spokesperson said Thursday. Casting was offline for about two-and-a-half months after an unspecified quantity of fissile material leaked into machinery at the National Nuclear Security Administration […]

After a nail-biter of an amendment vote Wednesday, the Department of Energy may still have to seek congressional approval to start work on new nuclear warheads, if the Senate’s version of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act becomes law. However, the measure still would authorize $65 million for the department to start work in fiscal […]

A group of Senate Democrats led by Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) wants to strip funding for a new low-yield nuclear warhead out of the Senate’s 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and use the money to develop a plan to help verify North Korea’s nuclear disarmament, should that ever happen. Markey introduced his amendment to […]

Besides backing a new low-yield warhead and at least one more year of building a plutonium disposal plant, the Senate Armed Services Committee is pressing the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to exchange some weapons personnel with the Pentagon, in a bid to improve relations between the government’s major nuclear weapons agencies. That is according […]

The House of Representatives could vote this week on a fiscal 2019 spending bill with about $35.5 billion for the Department of Energy, but some Democrats want to amend the measure to remove funding for a new low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic-missile warhead. The energy budget bill would be part of an appropriations package — informally called […]

The House and Senate disagree about whether to fund construction of new tritium facilities at the Savannah River Site in fiscal 2019, according to their latest appropriations proposals. The two chambers have also staked out very different negotiating positions about an Obama administration program to create nuclear warheads that could fly on both Air Force […]

Senate appropriators favor continuing sustaining an Obama-era program to create a so-called interoperable nuclear warhead that could fly on future Air Force and Navy missiles — a program their House counterparts have proposed canceling. That is according to the detailed bill report accompanying the fiscal 2019 energy and water bill the Senate Appropriations Committee approved […]

Both congressional appropriations committees have now cleared the National Nuclear Security Administration to start work on a low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic-missile warhead in fiscal 2019, with Senate appropriators approving $65 million for the proposed weapon as part of a spending bill passed Thursday. House appropriators approved the same amount for the warhead, which is to be made […]

The House of Representatives on Wednesday shot down amendments to the fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act that would have checked the funding increase and new warhead mission proposed for the National Nuclear Security Administration. An amendment proposed Tuesday to limit 2019 funding for a new low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic-missile warhead was defeated Wednesday on a […]

After a marathon of amendments and votes that began Tuesday morning and ended Wednesday morning, the House Armed Services Committee defeated a doomed-to-fail Democratic attempt to prevent the National Nuclear Security Administration from starting work on a new low-yield nuclear warhead in fiscal year 2019. Ranking member Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), who called the low-yield […]

The Department of Energy said Thursday it will produce nuclear-warhead cores for the ongoing 30-year, $1 trillion modernization of the U.S. nuclear arsenal at two sites instead of one, and will convert a major nonproliferation facility into a weapons plant to do it. The Department of Defense wants DOE to make 80 fissile “plutonium pits” […]

After a marathon of amendments and votes that began Tuesday morning and ended Wednesday morning, the House Armed Services Committee defeated a doomed-to-fail Democratic attempt to prevent the National Nuclear Security Administration from starting work on a new low-yield nuclear warhead in fiscal year 2019. Ranking member Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), who called the low-yield […]

The House of Representatives’ version of the fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act would authorize $65 million in funding to begin work on a new low-yield nuclear warhead for submarine-launched ballistic missiles as part of an overall $15.3 billion National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) budget, according to a bill summary provided Friday by the House […]

Recent increases in U.S. defense spending have bolstered the Air Force’s nuclear modernization efforts, but the possible return of across-the-board budget cuts in FY 2020 looms as a potential threat to those programs, a service official said May 1. The two-year budget agreement that President Trump signed into law in February provides $700 billion for defense […]

WASHINGTON —The full House Armed Services Committee plans to authorize production of the low-yield nuclear warhead sought by the Donald Trump administration, a lawmaker said here Thursday. The new Nuclear Posture Review issued in February calls for the new weapon. For fiscal 2019, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has proposed spending $65 million to develop […]

WASHINGTON — There will be no discussion of low-yield warheads, plutonium pits, or a controversial plutonium-disposal plant today when the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee marks up its portion of the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). However, the bill will recommend setting the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) fiscal 2019 budget higher even […]

The White House wants $65 million in fiscal 2019 for the Department of Energy to start work on the low-yield ballistic-missile warhead called for in the latest Nuclear Posture Review: a weapon Congress must authorize before the agency can start building it. The Donald Trump administration made the funding request official on April 13 in […]

The White House wants $65 million in fiscal 2019 for the Department of Energy to start work on the low-yield ballistic-missile warhead called for in the latest Nuclear Posture Review: a weapon Congress must authorize before the agency can start building it. The Donald Trump administration made the funding request official Friday in proposed amendments […]

The ranking Democrat on the Senate panel that writes the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) annual funding bill said this week she would not vote for a budget that keeps the B83 nuclear gravity bomb in service. Meanwhile, New Mexico’s senior senator laid into the Energy Department subagency’s top official about plans to move production […]