Todd Jacobson
NS&D Monitor
5/2/2014
Calling the refurbishment of the air-launched cruise missile (ALCM) a “priority” for the nation, Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) was critical of the Obama Administration’s decision this year to delay the replacement of the weapon in a speech this week at the Reserve Officers Association. “The Air Force will continue to extend the life of the existing ALCM, but eventually it will be obsolete, threatening the viability of the air-based deterrent,” Hoeven said. “We need to make investments today that ensure we have a viable air deterrent years into the future.”
Hoeven also criticized the Administration for delaying other nuclear modernization programs, like the W78/W88 interoperable warhead and the Ohio Class nuclear submarine replacement program. “We know costs do not shrink over time,” he said, adding: “I understand that the costs are high, but deferring those costs to be borne by future administrations makes it all the more difficult to pay for modernization and increases the risk that key segments of our nuclear deterrent will fail.”
He noted that spending on the nuclear mission in Fiscal Year 2014 will cost about $23 billion, or about 4 percent of the defense budget. But he said that is a “bargain” and suggested it was necessary to support even higher modernization costs. “Modernization initiatives will increase those costs by perhaps $7 to $10 billion in coming years, but even devoting 5 or 6 percent of the defense budget to nuclear capabilities over the next several years seems reasonable for something that will pay dividends for decades to come,” he said.
Hoeven Presses NNSA on W78/W88, ALCM
At a Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee hearing later in the week, Hoeven repeated his concerns, pressing NNSA leaders on the delays to the W78/W88 interoperable warhead program and the ALCM effort.“How much risk are we assuming and how are you going to get something going on updating and modernizing the W78 and the W88 warheads, and are you going to do it as one warhead or keep them separate?” Hoeven asked. NNSA weapons program chief Don Cook said three weapons systems had been prioritized over the W78/W88: the B61 refurbishment, the W88 Alt 370, and the ALCM. “The consequence of prioritizing those under a constrained budget was when we looked at the weapons systems and we looked at the surveillance data, we didn’t have enough money to do everything,” Cook said, noting that surveillance data revealed that the existing warheads were aging gracefuly. “We believed that it was a reasonable thing to do to take the risk of something turning up that we haven’t identified yet.”
Cook said the NNSA’s commitment to the interoperable warhead, which is a linchpin of the agency’s “3+2” strategy for modernizing the stockpile, hadn’t changed. “We put priority on the first three parts of the life extension program, knowing that we’d come back to revisit,” he said. “Now it remains the program of record and in the ]3+2’ strategy agreement with the Department of Defense and Energy and all of our entities still to have an interoperable weapons system but by 2030 rather than 2025.”
Cook: ALCM Study to Begin in July
Cook also said the conceptual study on the ALCM was slated to begin in July, with a First Production Unit set to be completed in 2027. Previously, a FPU was to be built by 2024. “We’re not standing by or just deferring,” Cook said, adding: “We believe we can support the present system in the W80 out to about 2030, but we’re not proposing any further delay. And so we’re beginning the conceptual work that would lead then into engineering work.” Hoeven urged the NNSA to find more money for the program. “I would encourage that we continue that and try to find funding to make sure that we can advance that program, given the importance of that system,” he said.
Tester, Hoeven Laud Admin. Decision on ICBMs
Speaking with Hoeven at the Reserve Officers Association, Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) lauded the recent decision by the Obama Administration to trim the size of its deployed intercontinental ballistic missile force by 50 ICBMs to 400 but preserve each of its missile wings and keep the 50 ICBM silos in warm standby. “Don’t get me wrong we certainly need to get our fiscal house in order, and defense cuts are part of the mix as are non-defense cuts and revenues. But it makes no sense to start with the most efficient, cost effective program like the ICBM force,” Tester said. “On any given day our ICBM fleet provides an always nuclear deterrent for a fraction of the cost of other options.”
Hoeven also applauded the decision, saying it was the best outcome he could’ve hoped for under the New START Treaty. “This is no mere parochial victory,” he said. “Keeping those silos matters not only to North Dakota, but to the entire nation. The reason is because silos are essentially irreplaceable strategic assets. It is politically inconceivable that the U.S. will ever dig new ICBM silos, not to mention that doing so also would be probably prohibitively expensive. Getting rid of silos means irreversible reductions to the ICBM force.”
