Brian Bradley
NS&D Monitor
3/27/2015
The Air Force has programmed a plus-up of about $5.6 billion for its nuclear enterprise over the Future Years’ Defense Program (FYDP), some of which would presumptively fund the procurement of close to 100 long-range strike bombers, but the Budget Control Act (BCA) could force the service to reduce to about $4 billion over the FYDP, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said this week. “We would lose between $1 and $2 billion if sequestration were to kick in,” James said March 23 during the Carnegie Nuclear Policy Conference in Washington. “What we think would happen is some modernization, particularly of the weapon systems … that we want to do, that we have planned to do over the next five years, not all of that could go forth.”
While top officials have previously stated the Air Force is looking to procure 80 to 100 LRSBs, James said the service is leaning toward acquiring closer to the top limit. Speaking at the Carnegie conference, Maj. Gen. Garrett Harencak, Air Force Assistant Chief of Staff for Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Integration, said the service needs the LRSB to penetrate enemy air defenses, which the B-52 cannot do. “We are talking about an ability to allow no adversary to have sanctuary anywhere in the world, and that requires a penetrating capability,” he said. Until B-52s retire in the 2040s, Harencak said they will be safe, secure and effective, but “it cannot penetrate,” he added.
Sequestration a ‘Nuclear Hand Grenade’
Sequestration would hit all portions of the nuclear enterprise hard, including the Navy and the National Nuclear Security Administration, where Administrator Frank Klotz has called the potential impacts of the cuts “devastating.” Like other Republican defense hawks, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) has urged relief from the cuts, and he bemoaned their impact at a House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee hearing this week. “Allowing sequestration to hit us again in FY16 would be like designing a nuclear hand grenade; just about the dumbest thing we could do,” Rogers said.
BCA Would Force Some Nuclear Modernization Cuts
James underscored the Air Force has requested about $10 billion more than the BCA cap level for Fiscal Year 2016, adding that some nuclear modernization would get cut. “So the idea that an element of our triad, one of our three legs of the triad would go away—that simply would not happen,” she said. “But for example, what we think would happen, some of the modernization, particularly of the weapon systems…that we want to do, that we have planned to do over the next five years, not all of that could go forth.” Officials have cited the B-2 Defensive Management System and Minuteman 3 command and control as two areas which could see cuts alongside sequestration.
Defense Committees Supportive
James said the Senate and House Armed Services committees have supported the President’s FY 2016 budget for the Air Force throughout the tough budget climate, but other lawmakers aren’t indicating the same sentiments. “We’ve got the whole rest of the Congress that either doesn’t understand these issues as in depth, or may have other concerns,” she said. “I mean, Congressmen and Senators are not just looking at defense; they’re looking at the whole array of government programs and government issues.” While she cautioned that if she were a betting woman, she’d be poor, James said she thinks the service would get funding between the BCA cap and the service’s FY 2016 request. “But I sure hope we will get more,” she said.
