The Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday approved its version of the fiscal 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, which would allow for $65 million for research and development of an intermediate-range missile in response to Russia’s breach of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
The United States has determined that Russia has deployed a ground-launched cruise missile with a flight range within the INF Treaty-prohibited distance of 500 kilometers to 5,500 kilometers. Washington has struggled to press Moscow to return to compliance.
The committee-approved funding for a ground-launched missile would be intended to “begin to close the capability gap opened by the Russian violation of the INF Treaty, without placing the United States in violation of the treaty,” according to an executive summary of the NDAA posted after the Senate committee voted unanimously in favor of the legislation.
Further detail about the proposed missile R&D was not immediately available.
The Senate bill, which in total authorizes $700 billion for Defense Department operations and Energy Department national security programs, now goes to the full Senate for consideration.
The House Armed Services Committee, meanwhile, late Wednesday was still marking up its version of the NDAA. The two bills ultimately will have to be reconciled ahead of the Oct. 1 start of the next budget year.
The SASC National Defense Authorization Act, according to the summary, also:
- “Requires the Commanders of U.S. Cyber Command and U.S. Strategic Command to jointly assess the cyber resiliency of the nuclear command and control system”;
- “Fully supports the modernization of the nuclear triad and ensures that U.S. nuclear forces are survivable, well-exercised, and increasingly ready to counter Russian nuclear provocations while reassuring allies”; and
- “Fully supports Department of Energy programs to extend the life and modernize our nuclear weapons and infrastructure and to secure nuclear materials and dangerous pathogens worldwide.”
