March 17, 2014

NAVY NOT ON BOARD WITH W76 REFURBISHMENT SLOWDOWN?

By ExchangeMonitor

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s plans to slow down production of refurbished W76 nuclear warheads in Fiscal Year 2013 has raised concerns among top Navy officials, a senior Navy official told the House Armed Services Committee last week. The Administration requested $174.9 million in NNSA’s budget for the W76 program, a decrease of $81.3 million from FY2012, in order to accommodate an increase in funding for the B61 refurbishment program. NNSA Defense Programs chief Don Cook told NW&M Monitor last week that the W76 slowdown had been planned so as not to impact the Navy’s operational requirements. He said the agency would meet all production requirements for the active stockpile by the end of 2018, but would no longer produce refurbished W76 warheads for reserve at the same time, pushing that plan back to 2021.

When asked about the cuts by Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio) at a committee hearing Feb. 16, Navy Adm. Jonathan Greenert, the service’s Chief of Naval Operations, said the Navy was “concerned” at the NNSA’s plan beyond Fiscal Year 2013. “We have to keep our strategic nuclear systems, including the warheads, modernized,” Greenert said. “That affects the targeting. It affects the numbers and our delivery. So looking at the ‘13 submission, we’re okay with that. When we look at ‘14 and up, we are concerned.” Greenert suggested that there would be more discussions in the future about the NNSA’s plan. “We have committed—the NNSA, the Department of Defense, the Navy’s involved, the OSD [Office of the Secretary of Defense] staff. We’re going to get together, shake this thing out, make sure we prioritize.”

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