October 08, 2014

DoD’s Weber: Administration Examining Modernization ‘Tradeoffs,’ Need for LRSO

By ExchangeMonitor

The Obama Administration is taking a hard look at whether it needs to replace the air-launched cruise missile, outgoing Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical & Biological Defense Programs Andrew Weber told reporters earlier this week as he prepared to leave his position after five years. The large price tag to modernize the nation’s nuclear deterrent over the next two decades has forced the Administration to examine whether there could be “tradeoffs” in the current modernization plan, Weber said, specifically singling out the long-range standoff (LRSO) weapon, which would replace the air-launched cruise missile (ALCM). “The size of the bow wave causes us to have to take a hard look at the priorities,” said Weber, who left the Pentagon yesterday to serve as new Ebola Coordinator Nancy Powell’s deputy. “What are the tradeoffs? Is that current strategy affordable and executable? Or does it need to be modified?”

The Air Force has said the LRSO is imperative to replace the ALCM, but Weber noted that the bomber leg of the nuclear triad could be preserved with only the B61-12 gravity bomb, which is currently being refurbished. “That’s a decision that has to be informed by the budget realities but with the B61-12 we will have that bomber leg,” Weber said. “It’s a question: Do you need both the gravity bomb and the cruise missile or could we live with perhaps delaying or foregoing the follow-on to the ALCM. These are the kinds of questions we’re examining within all of the legs of the triad.”

Comments are closed.