The Senate Armed Services Committee wants the secretaries of energy and defense to brief Congress if either plans an alternative to the W80-4 warhead for a nuclear-armed, sea-launched cruise missile, according to a draft National Defense Authorization Act released Monday.
The briefing would have to detail the benefits and cost expectations of any alternative, according to the bill report accompanying this version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
It would also require the Secretary of the Navy to establish an office for the program for the nuclear Sea Launched Cruise Missile (SLCM-N).
In a testimony in April to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Jill Hruby, head of the DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which is building the W80-4, did not rule out alternatives to the warhead.
In response, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), inquired on the “extra burden” of developing a W80-4 alternate warhead on the NNSA’s workforce and budget.
“We are looking at the W80-4, as was in the authorizing language,” Hruby said. “We are also looking at other options that might, we don’t know yet, be simpler to do in terms of disrupting our current production flow.”
