Late delivery of high explosives to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California will delay by “at 2 two months” the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) program to refurbish an old warhead for a next-generation air-launched cruise missile, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported Monday.
Livermore, which leads the W80-4 life-extension program, needs the high explosives for a hydrodynamic test intended to prove out computer simulations about how the refurbished warhead would behave during detonation, the GAO stated in a report
The Holston Army Ammunition Plant in Tennessee was supposed to fill Livermore’s order in March 2019, but did not, according to the GAO. The report did not say how large an order Livermore placed.
First, the BAE Systems-operated explosive-material supplier delayed the delivery in order to fill a Department of Defense order deemed higher priority than Livermore’s.
Then, “an explosive incident” at Holston in January halted production for about three weeks, the GAO said. The tidbit was tucked into a report about the NNSA’s projected need for conventional high explosives to refurbish the existing U.S. nuclear arsenal. Conventional explosions spark nuclear detonations.
The NNSA is refurbishing the W80 for the Long-Range Standoff Weapon: the Pentagon’s planned replacement for the 1980s-vintage Air-Launched Cruise Missile. The Pentagon wants to deploy the new missile in 2025. Initially, B-52H aircraft would carry the weapon. Eventually, it would be loaded on the planned B-21 Raider.
The cost of the W80-4 has risen somewhat even since last year. In March, the NNSA requested almost $900 million for the program for fiscal 2020. In 2018, the agency estimated it would need around $715 million for the budget year that begins Oct. 1.
The NNSA has not said, specifically, what caused the expected cost increase. In rough terms, and adjusting for inflation, the agency expects to spend between $7.5 billion and $11.5 billion to build the W80-4 over the 17 years spanning 2015 through 2032. The Pentagon has said it wants to buy about 1,000 Long-Range Standoff Weapon missiles.
The House Armed Services and Appropriations committees have each approved the $900 million requested for W80-4 for 2020.
The Senate Armed Services Committee approved full funding for W80-4 in its version of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. The Senate Appropriations Committee has not drafted a 2020 NNSA spending bill yet.
