House Appropriators Want More Information on GBSD

Members of the House Appropriations Committee are seeking more information about the Air Force’s Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD), the planned Minuteman 3 follow-on. Before the committee reported to the House floor its version of the Fiscal Year 2016 defense spending bill yesterday, it also approved by unanimous voice vote an amendment to the bill’s companion committee report that states that the Defense Secretary would be required to report to Congress GBSD characteristics including the estimated cost and planned quantity. “The Committee directs that not later than 120 days after the enactment of this Act the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the Congressional defense committees a report on the ground based strategic deterrent,” the report states.

 

Specifically, the bill would require the Defense Secretary to report an estimate of the annual and total cost for research, development, testing and evaluation and procurement for the entire GBSD fleet, and an estimate of the annual cost of the weapon system as a proportion of the annual cost of the nuclear triad as well as yearly defense spending. The bill would provide $490.2 billion in base funding for the Pentagon, about a $44 billion decrease from the President’s budget request for FY 2016 and about $9 billion less than the Budget Control Act-established Pentagon base funding cap. However, the bill would also allocate $88.4 billion in Global War on Terrorism—or Overseas Contingency Operations—uncapped funds, about $38 billion more than the White House request for that account.