October 20, 2014

Report by Disarmament Group Says Scaling Back Nuclear Modernization Plans Could Save $70 billion

By ExchangeMonitor

The United States could save $70 billion by cutting five planned nuclear modernization programs, an arms control group said in a report released yesterday. Authored by Tom Collina, director of policy for the Ploughshares Fund, and ACA research staff, “The Unaffordable Arsenal: Reducing the Costs of the Bloated U.S. Nuclear Stockpile” suggests that delaying plans for building new nuclear-capable bombers would save $32 billion, shrinking the planned Ohio-class nuclear ballistic missile submarine replacement posture from 12 to eight subs would conserve $16 billion, recapitalizing instead of replacing Minuteman 3 ICBMs would save $16 million, scaling back the B61s life extension program would bank $4 billion, and cancelling a new air-launched cruise missile would generate $3 billion in savings.

Collina presented the report’s findings yesterday at ACA’s annual meeting in Washington, and said any would-be savings should be diverted to support conventional capabilities. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated it will cost $355 billion over the next 10 years to modernize the nation’s nuclear deterrent. The nuclear funding plans create a “zero-sum game” across the constricted defense budget. “Something’s got to give,” Collina said. “Fortunately, we have something that can give, which is the nuclear budget. In my view, this is really a nuclear ATM that we can cash in on and take money out of this program and spend it on other things. There’s simply too much money in the nuclear modernization account to justify all that is going on there.”

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