The House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee on Thursday passed its mark for the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to the full committee with several amendments calling for reports related to comparative U.S. and Russian military capabilities to be submitted to Congress.
The mark would also require construction of the Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility to continue unless certain conditions are met for a waiver; a $56 million annual cap on National Nuclear Security Administration weapons dismantlement spending from fiscal 2017-2021; $5 million for research and development on a naval nuclear fuel system based on low-enriched uranium; and mitigation of the threat posed by unmanned aircraft to nuclear facilities.
Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) offered an amendment that calls for the director of national intelligence to submit by Jan. 15, 2017, a report to the congressional defense committees on the “leadership survivability, command and control, and continuity of government programs” in China and Russia.
The report would include information about above-ground and underground facilities to be used for political and military leadership survivability, the amendment says. It would also identify facilities out of which senior leaders in both countries might operate during crises and war. The amendment says that within 90 days of the report’s submission, the Pentagon’s Council on Oversight of the National Leadership Command, Control, and Communications System should submit its own assessment of how the Chinese and Russian systems compare to those of the U.S.
An amendment from Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) calls on the commanding general of U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command to submit a report by April 1, 2017, on the potential military benefits of U.S. intermediate-range ground-launched missiles – a report that would also serve to warn Russia against ongoing Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty violations, according to Forbes.
The treaty prohibits the U.S. and Russia from fielding surface-to-surface ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers. The committee, concerned by the fielding of these types of missiles by the United States’ strategic competitors, including China, wants to examine the potential value to the U.S. military of conventional land-based surface-to-surface missiles, the amendment says. It notes that the INF Treaty does not prohibit research and development of such systems. The report would examine the missiles’ impact on U.S. offense and defense, the cost of procurement, and relative costs of “potential INF-compliant long-range strike systems, such as boost-glide weapons, in comparison to systems prohibited by the INF Treaty.”
The subcommittee passed the mark with its amendments to the full committee, which will hold its markup next Wednesday. The Senate will begin considering its version of the bill on May 9.
