Top Department of Defense officials are set to testify Wednesday before a House Armed Services panel about the Pentagon’s fiscal 2019 budget request for nuclear weapon programs.
On the witness list for the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee are Air Force Gen. John Hyten, Commander of U.S. Strategic Command, and John Rood, undersecretary of defense for policy.
Strategic Command operates the long-range U.S. nuclear deterrent, encompassing intercontinental ballistic missiles, missile-carrying submarines, and nuclear-armed aircraft.
The Pentagon is in the middle of on long-term modernization programs for the missiles, submarines, and aircraft that deliver the nuclear payloads created by and manufactured at National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) facilities. Wednesday’s hearing with the military’s top uniformed nuclear official could touch on the Defense Department’s expectations for its partner agency.
In the near term, the Pentagon needs to finalize its requirements for the new low-yield ballistic-missile-launched nuclear warhead called for in the Nuclear Posture Review the Donald Trump administration released last month. The NNSA says this weapon will be a modified version of the W76 warhead used on the Trident II D5 ballistic missiles carried aboard Ohio-class submarines. The NNSA unofficially has called the low-yield option W76-Mod 2.
The joint Department of Energy and Pentagon Nuclear Weapons Council will tour the NNSA complex this spring with the aim of preparing an official recommendation for starting work on the W76-Mod 2 in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. That is according to Guy Roberts, assistant secretary of defense for nuclear, chemical, and biological defense programs, who spoke with Weapons Complex Morning Briefing last month at the ExchangeMonitor’s annual Nuclear Deterrence Summit.
Wednesday’s hearing, U.S. Strategic Forces Posture and the Fiscal Year 2019 Budget Request, is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. in Room 2118 of the Rayburn House Office Building.
