The Defense Department and National Nuclear Security Administration would have just three months to begin development of a nuclear sea-launched cruise missile when the Senate passes its 2024 defense policy bill.
Passed in the Senate by an 86-11 vote on Thursday, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) would require that within 90 days of final passage the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment establish a program to develop the new sea-launched missile, also called SLCM-N.
Parallel development of a sea-launched version of the W80-4 warhead would launch at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). That requires a formal request through the Nuclear Weapons Council to the NNSA.
The Biden administration, which wants to cancel the SLCM-N, zeroed out funding in its 2024 budget request for the weapon, which it considers redundant to the W76-2 low-yield, submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missile warhead. It is the second year the White House has proposed blanking the cruise missile development program.
Now, Congress has once more come to SLCM-N’s rescue. The Senate committee’s NDAA would have the weapon ready to deploy on Navy submarines by fiscal year 2035, which begins Oct. 1 of next year.
To meet that deadline, the Senate also included $75 million for development of the sea-launched version of the W80-4 warhead and another $190 million for the missile through the Navy’s Precision Strike Weapons Development Program.
