The United States must maintain and modernize all three legs of the nuclear triad, including through deployment of a new air-launched cruise missile, the Air Force general nominated to lead U.S. Strategic Command said on Tuesday.
“it’s essential that we always maintain a fully ready nuclear deterrent capability. There should be no doubt that the nation needs that capability as the backstop of everything we do as a military,” Gen. John Hyten, current commander of Air Force Space Command, said during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The United States is projected to spend $1 trillion over the next three decades to operate and update its nuclear arsenal, including replacing all three of today’s nuclear weapons delivery systems: the Minuteman III ICBM, Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine, and long-range bombers. While there has been significant public debate, largely outside the Defense Department, of shifting to a less-expensive nuclear “dyad,” Hyten made clear he believes each of the three systems has an important role in ensuring U.S. national security. The bombers are the most flexible weapon, submarines the most survivable in conflict, and ICBMs the most ready and responsive, the four-star general said.
Hyten also came down firmly on the side of deploying a new nuclear-capable cruise missile on bombers. The Air Force said in July it plans in fiscal 2017 to award contracts to replace its aging AGM-86B air-launched cruise missiles. Procuring roughly 1,000 of the new long-range standoff missiles, which would be carried by various aircraft and designed for loading with conventional or nuclear warheads, would cost $20 billion to $30 billion. Deployment would begin by 2030.
“From my 35 years in the military I believe you need the flexibility that an air-launched cruise missile, a long-range strike option, can provide you,” Hyten responded. “There’s always a challenge to a bomber. It doesn’t matter how stealthy that bomber is, it doesn’t matter how capable that bomber is, I believe a long-range strike option, an advanced cruise missile, gives the president of the United States flexibility in the air arm that is essential as part of the triad. I would recommend strongly that we pursue that option.”
