Brian Bradley
NS&D Monitor
5/1/2015
Even though the post-2021 budgetary landscape—as many nuclear modernization programs move from research-and-development to the production phase—will likely threaten investments in strategic deterrence, the United States should still follow plans to modernize the full nuclear weapon portfolio, a Senate appropriator told a Capitol Hill audience this week. “Will there be funding challenges after 2021, after we purchase and modernize bombers, missiles and submarines? Absolutely,” Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) said during a Peter Huessy Breakfast Series event. “But as STRATCOM Commander Adm. Haney has said, ‘Even if nuclear modernization accounts to five or six percent of defense spending for a few years, it is an investment that we cannot afford not to make.’ The good news is that prudent investments today can help control future costs.”
The Air Force has programmed an additional $5.6 billion across the Future Years’ Defense Program to fund its two legs of the nuclear triad, and the Navy has programmed $10 billion across the FYDP for its No. 1 priority, the Ohio-class Replacement ballistic missile submarine. Frank Kendall, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, recently said the budget crunch on nuclear modernization gets “severe” starting in 2021, when Ohio-class Replacement development starts.
Hoeven said he disagreed with arms control advocates’ claims that cutting the bomber or ICBM legs of the triad would bring significant savings. He added that recent mishaps among missileers demonstrate that the triad should be a higher priority, and that the United States should signal its seriousness about deterrence to allies and global nuclear actors. “In the context of the overall defense budget, it is very, very cost-effective. … We need to show our adversaries that even after cutting our nuclear forces and deemphasizing nuclear deterrence in our national security strategy, we are still very serious about deterrence and willing to invest in it,” Hoeven said. “Deploying big bombs on big missiles is important. Operating and maintaining those weapon systems so that we are always ready to respond to enemy threats is just as important.”
Is Obama Shrinking Role of Nukes?
Hoeven said that other countries see the Obama Administration as working to shrink the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. defense policy. “Our adversaries aren’t going to mistake us for a paper tiger anytime soon, but we have signaled less interest in nuclear deterrence, so unless we modernize, they likely will attach less significance to the deterrent forces that we maintain,” he said. “To sum it up, we see complicated strategic threats rising, and the world sees the United States downplaying the value of the nuclear deterrent.”
Praise for FIP
Hoeven voiced his support for how the Air Force is addressing the Force Improvement Program, aimed at improving morale and equipment flaws throughout the force. The service requested $160 million for the program for FY 2016. “I’m pleased to report that the Air Force is making significant investments in its nuclear missions through the nuclear Force Improvement Program,” he said. “That’s something I’ve been very supportive of, and will continue to be very supportive of through the appropriations process.” Hoeven commended Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James for her leadership on the issue, and said the FIP initiatives have widespread support in the Senate. “The most important Air Force leaders tell me that, for the first time in many years, they are institutionalizing nuclear force improvements and making a long-term effort to enhance the nuclear career field,” he said. “The world needs to see that we take our nuclear forces seriously, and the nuclear Force Improvement Program is a visible, tangible effort to demonstrate that we’re serious about deterrence.”
Senator Says New LRSO Will be a Focus
Hoeven argued that the United States needs to reconstitute all parts of the nuclear deterrent, mentioning that the $24 billion FY 2016 budget request composes 5 percent of the overall defense budget request for next fiscal year. He said the long-range standoff weapon (LRSO), the follow-on to the air-launched cruise missile, will be a focus for him through the appropriations process. “Whether or not we might have a potential budget crunch in 2028 is cold comfort to [North Korean leader] Kim Jong-Un if he sees the LRSO program fully funded today,” Hoeven said. “[Russian President] Vladimir Putin should not be able to bank on an eroding U.S. deterrent a decade from now, so we have to keep our modernization efforts on track. Our adversaries must see and know our commitment to deterrence. They need to see it as a priority—not only through the Air Force and the Department of Defense, but for Congress and the American people.”
In its FY 2016 budget request, the Administration sped up the LRSO program by two years. The Air Force plans to release an RFP for the LRSO by the fourth quarter of FY 2015, after the RFP was originally expected in the first quarter of FY 2017. The House Armed Services Committee’s version of the National Defense Authorization Act of FY 2016 authorized the Administration’s $36.6 million request for the LRSO, a $33.2 million increase over the FY 2015-enacted level. Independent estimates peg the LRSO, including the warhead, to cost between $10 and $20 million.
