In a widely noted report this week calling for hundreds of billions of dollars in additional spending for the U.S. Defense Department, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) largely appeared satisfied with the present program for modernizing the nation’s nuclear deterrent.
“There is bipartisan consensus in support of the current nuclear modernization plan – replacing our ballistic missile submarines, strategic bombers and air launched cruise missiles, and Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMS), while modernizing the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons research and manufacturing enterprise,” McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in his report, Restoring American Power.
The cost for upkeep and updates to the nuclear deterrent is just 5 percent of national defense spending over the upcoming 10 years, the report says, without providing specific dollar amounts. Ultimately, modernizing the U.S. nuclear arsenal is expected to cost about $1 trillion over the next three decades.
McCain said the current modernization steps must be advanced without delay:
- Maintaining nuclear force levels allowed under the U.S.-Russian New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty: 400 ICBMs, 240 submarine-launched ballistic missiles on 12 submarines, and 60 long-range bombers.
- Moving forward with replacements for the current ballistic missile submarines, strategic bomber, and ICBMs.
- Building the Long-Range Standoff (LRSO) nuclear cruise missile to replace today’s Air Launched Cruise Missile, and life extensions for the B61 gravity bomb and the W76-1, W78, W80, and interoperable warheads.
- Updating nuclear command and control and communications.
- Developing a nuclear-capable version of the F-35 fighter jet.
- Recapitalizing aging DOE nuclear facilities, including the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee and the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Facility at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
More broadly, McCain recommended $430 billion in additional defense spending over existing plans for fiscal years 2018 to 2022, along with a host of other changes to strengthen a military he argued has been dangerously weakened under the Obama administration.
The senator’s position on the nuclear deterrent, on the face of it, does not seem likely to run into significant opposition from newly inaugurated President Donald Trump or his selections for secretaries of defense and energy, retired Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
In late December, Trump tweeted that the United States would need a stronger and expanded nuclear arsenal until “the world comes to its senses regarding nukes.”
In answers to advance questions for his Jan. 12 confirmation hearing before McCain’s panel, Mattis said he would “take a careful look at this issue and consult with the Committee” on the question of a dual-capable F-35. He said modernization of all three legs of the U.S. nuclear triad is crucial for U.S. national security, but had not taken a final position on the LRSO.
“I will carefully examine the utility and advisability of this program within existing nuclear doctrine and report back to the Committee with an informed answer,” Mattis wrote.
A McCain spokeswoman this week did not respond to a request for comment regarding details of the nuclear forces segment of his report.
The Senate Armed Services Committee has scheduled a hearing for Jan. 24 on the defense budget for fiscal 2018 and subsequent years.
The Pentagon is already moving forward with contracts for nuclear modernization. Northrop Grumman secured the contract for the new B-21 “Raider” bomber, which is due for deployment starting in the mid-2020s; it is competing against Boeing and Lockheed Martin to manage the technology maturation and risk reduction phase of the new Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent ICBM, which should arrive later that decade. Meanwhile, DOD has signed off on beginning detailed design for the new Columbia-class submarine; General Dynamics Electric Boat is the prime contractor on the new vessel, which is due for first patrol by fiscal 2031.
