Kim Budil, director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, said the Donald Trump administration did not consult the lab or the National Nuclear Security Administration on using the nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile (SLCM-N) in the future Trump-class battleships.
Bradley Wallin, Deputy Director of Strategic Deterrence at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, also told the Monitor he did not know whether the W80-5, the new W80 variant that would go on SLCM-N, would go on the future Trump-class battleships Trump pledged to build and said would carry SLCM-N.
The two NNSA officials made their remarks on the sidelines of this week’s Exchange Monitor Nuclear Deterrence Summit.
The National Nuclear Security Administration will conduct low-altitude helicopter flights starting Feb. 2 through Feb. 4 over San Francisco, Calif. ahead of the Super Bowl Feb. 8, the agency said Thursday.
The NNSA’s aerial measuring system conducts preventative radiation missions in preparation for high-profile events, including the Super Bowl, political party conventions, and the presidential inauguration. The San Francisco public may see a Leonardo AW-139 helicopter, equipped with radiation-sensing technology, flying at low levels over the city, NNSA said.
NEST is part of the Office of Counterterrorism and Counterproliferation, which aims to provide early threat indications, inform of nuclear materials globally, and prevent adversaries from obtaining and detonating a nuclear device.
Defense company Babcock International Group said Jan. 23 David Lockwood, group chief executive, will retire at the end of 2026 and be replaced by Harry Holt, current chief executive officer of Babcock’s nuclear sector.
Holt will assume the role of deputy CEO and join Babcock’s board in June, staying on the nuclear sector until then, which is the biggest sector in Babcock globally, according to a press release by the company. Babcock is a U.K.-based defense company and parent of Cavendish Nuclear.
Holt spent seven years on the executive team at Rolls Royce prior to joining Babcock, including as president of its nuclear division, and has taken on a range of roles in nuclear sectors at other organizations, the release said. Holt also had a career as an officer in the British Army prior to his industrial tenure.
Two MH-139A Grey Wolf helicopters by Boeing and Leonardo escorted their first nuclear Minuteman III ICBM convoy for Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC) on Jan. 8 at Malmstrom Air Force Base (AFB), Mont., according to AFGSC and Boeing.
AFGSC said the MH-139s “shepherded a column of missile maintenance and armored security vehicles to and from a launch facility” more than 100 miles east of Malmstrom AFB for six hours, without needing to refuel.