Current Nuclear Weapons Development

Tibbets Earns B-52 Certification, Grandfather Honored
Col. Paul Tibbets IV, grandson of the late retired Brig. Gen. Paul Tibbets and Air Force Global Strike Command's deputy director of operations, qualified to fly the B-52H, making him one of a select few pilots trained to fly all three of the Air Force's bomber types.
He flew the B-1B and B-2A during previous assignments, according to a service release. "This is not an accomplishment many achieve," said Lt. Col. James Morriss, commander of Air Force Reserve Command's 93rd Bomb Squadron. Tibbets earned the certification on Nov. 21 at Barksdale AFB, La., in a B-52 painted with Red Gremlin II nose art as a tribute to his grandfather. The latter Tibbets, best known for piloting the B-29 Enola Gay that dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan in August 1945, also flew the B-17 Red Gremlin against Nazi-occupied Europe. "My grandfather had a passion for aviation and most specifically, bombers," said Colonel Tibbets. "I am honored to play a small part in keeping his legacy alive," he said. (Barksdale report by MSgt. Greg Steele)
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A movie in the making Paul Tibbets IV flies a B-52 to drop a nuke on China or North Korea to save a nuclear attack on Japan. Tibbets saves Japan get the irony ;)
 
OSD Approves Start Of Analysis Of Alternatives On Minuteman III's Future

Two of the Air Force's top nuclear enterprise officials told Inside the Air Force recently that the service recently received permission from the Pentagon to enter a key study phase, albeit slightly constrained, of a program designed to replace or upgrade the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile. The generals also described the way they have tried to minimize the impacts of budget cuts and a government shutdown on their staffs while prioritizing the safety and security of nuclear weapons under their control. Maj. Gen. Sandra Finan, the commander of the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, and Brig. Gen. Daryl Hauck, the service's program executive officer for strategic systems, spoke with ITAF by phone from Kirtland Air Force Base, NM, on Oct. 2. According to Finan and Hauck, the Air Force was given the green light last month to begin the service's Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) analysis of alternatives (AOA) -- a study that will consider several options to modernize or altogether replace the very old Minuteman III system.

"We had the Defense Acquisition Board with [Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall], and he has approved that study to begin," Hauck said. "We're just waiting on the acquisition decision memorandum from his office, but the team is starting. We did get re-vectored, though. The department, in this constrained budget environment, would like to do those a little faster with a little less money, and so they have proposed a way to streamline how they're going to perform that study." In effect, the narrower AOA will look into fewer modernization concepts than originally planned, and Hauck said the service will focus on three main ones but did not name them during the interview. He said in a follow-up Oct. 3 email that the personnel in Finan's command who could properly describe that trio of options are furloughed as a result of the ongoing government shutdown.

However, contracting documents released in January lay out five potential paths for GBSD. They are continuing to use today's Minuteman III and accepting existing capability gaps; modernizing existing missiles and the current silos they are kept in; developing a new missile to be kept in a new, super-hardened silo; developing a mobile ballistic missile system that could be fired off of a platform called a transporter erector launcher; or developing a "tunnel" system, essentially an underground subway through which ICBMs could be moved around. That last option, sometimes referred to as a "doomsday train," is unlikely to make the cut in the AOA, Hauck said.

The Office of the Secretary of Defense's cost assessment and program evaluation office "wants an AOA to be intellectually rigorous, but we also don't plan to explore every concept that somebody would think about to the same level of rigor and spend more money than you need to." To impose some limits, OSD and the Air Force looked at data derived from previous analyses, and a senior advisory group set the scope of the AOA. That study is beginning at this point, but the Minuteman III is expected to remain in service until 2030.

Similarly, the service's Air-Launched Cruise Missile is planned to stay in service until that same year, when it should be replaced by a Long-Range Standoff Missile. The Air Force hopes to be able to enter technology development with a milestone A decision on that next-generation munition next summer. Hauck's staff has maintained a relationship with industry on that standoff missile program since the end of its own AOA several months ago. And according to Finan, the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center is working on selecting a family of warheads that missile would carry. That decision-making process runs through the Pentagon's Nuclear Weapons Council. More broadly than those two long-term efforts, the Air Force's nuclear community is dealing with the effects of sequestration, and more recently, the government shutdown that began Oct. 1. Finan said her command is facing the same kind of civilian furloughs as the rest of the Defense Department, but the nuclear enterprise does naturally receive some allowances to continue its mission.

"With the shutdown . . . we have retained the force to make sure everything that we do remains safe and everything we have remains secure," she said. "That is certainly not an issue. That, we will always do. We have furloughed a large number of our civilians. The vast majority of our civilians are furloughed, so what that does to us is that it stops some of the progress for right now on actually a lot of Gen. Hauck's programs and the things that we're moving forward on those." The main impact of fiscal year 2013 budget cuts on nuclear modernization programs was to slow the pace of contracting processes like the Future ICBM Sustainment and Acquisition Construct the Air Force is putting in place. Finan also emphasized that the Pentagon, and the government more widely, has yet to make important decisions on what weapon systems to keep in the inventory and at what numbers, and those decisions become more urgent as budget constraints remain in place. Hauck highlighted one potential delay the Air Force's nuclear community could be forced to implement if the shutdown continues for an extended time period. The service is scheduled to hold a preliminary design review with Boeing on its modernization of the tailkit for the B61 gravity bomb in November. Boeing's work is not affected by a shutdown, but Air Force oversight of that program during a shutdown is restricted, possibly affecting the service's ability to hold the review as planned. -- Gabe Starosta
 
As long as upgrading is still on the table that's all they'll do. As much as it pains me to say it.
 
http://www.nti.org/gsn/article/study-two-billion-could-starve-event-limited-nuclear-war/

So from as little as 100 Hiroshima sized bombs the end of civilization? I think it is a highly dubious claim. What was the most above ground tests in one year? I would also guess a major volcano would probably put equal or greater amounts of particulates in the air.

Of course this group has called for an ban on all nukes so it is any wonder their 'study' tracked with the desired outcome of the organization.
 
http://freebeacon.com/despite-promises-obama-planning-to-close-icbm-squadron/

I'm going to stop reading the news and start re-reading my 80's material on new nukes, ICBMs, SLBMs and Boomers.
 
Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments Report

http://www.csbaonline.org/2013/12/06/the-future-of-americas-nuclear-deterrent/
 
Russia Constructing Large New Depot for Nuclear Weapons

Dec. 16, 2013 Russia has begun constructing a new nuclear-missile storage complex not far from its border with Norway, the Barents Observer reports. Dozens of nuclear-tipped Bulava ballistic missiles are to be stored at the Severomorsk site, less than 75 miles away from the border with Norway.

Work on an initial two depots that will house the submarine-launched ballistic missiles began last month. An additional two storage facilities are to be constructed in November. Moscow is spending more than $16 million building the Bulava storage complex, which is located at the principal munitions depot of the Northern Fleet, according to Izvestia. The Bulava storage site is a three-hour sail away from Gadzhiyevo -- the principal base of the Borei-class submarine fleet, according to former Vice Adm. Vladimir Zakharov. Russia seeks cost savings in building the new depot, but also wants to keep its ballistic missiles stored separately from their delivery vehicles, Zakharov said. "It's better not to keep all eggs in one basket," he said. Once Russia has fully inducted all of the submarines in its planned eight Borei-class vessel fleet, there will be in excess of 200 Bulava missiles held at Severomorsk, according to Zakharov.
 
http://www.defensenews.com/article/20131216/DEFREG01/312160006

New UK SSBN "Successor"
 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/10522290/North-Korea-preparing-to-carry-out-new-nuclear-test.html
 
Russia Wants SS-18 Missile Replacement by 2020

Dec. 17, 2013

Russia expects to begin fielding the successor to its Cold War-era SS-18 intercontinental ballistic missile by the end of the decade, Reuters reports. The next-generation ICBM, known as Sarmat, is intended to replace the missile that Washington nicknamed "Satan." The SS-18 is approaching the end of its service life after being deployed for decades. "We are counting on being armed with this qualitatively new missile system ... by 2018-2020," Russian strategic rocket forces commander Gen. Sergei Karakayev was quoted by Interfax as saying on Tuesday. The SS-18 -- called the RS-20B Voyevoda in Russia -- is slated to be completely retired after 2021, according Karakayev. It is not known if the Sarmat is the weapon that was successfully test-launched by the Russian military in May 2012. The ICBM reportedly flew 3,700 miles and is said to be designed to skirt missile-defense systems.

Russia is also on track to field 15 additional fifth-generation Yars strategic missiles before the year is over at its divisions in Tomsk and Novosibirsk, Karakayev was reported by the Xinhua News Agency to have said.
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Missile name not heard before, at least by me, Sarmat (translation?)
 
Rail-mobile ICBMs are likely to make a comeback

http://russianforces.org/blog/2013/12/rail-mobile_icbms_are_likely_t.shtml
 
China Reportedly Test-Fires Powerful New Land-Based Missile

Dec. 18, 2013

China last week reportedly carried out its second test-launch of a mysterious new strategic missile, which could have the ability to fire multiple warheads. The Friday test of the Dongfeng 41 intercontinental ballistic missile took place at the Wuzhai rocket-firing complex in Shanxi province, the Washington Free Beacon reported, citing interviews with anonymous defense officials. Not much is publicly known about the Dongfeng 41, though some believe it had its first test-firing in July 2012. The long-range missile is thought to have a top flight distance of between roughly 6,800 miles and 7,450 miles, and to be designed to carry multiple independently targetable nuclear warheads. A recent annual report to Congress on China's military capabilities did not include mention of the road-mobile ICBM, though previous versions of the study detailed at some length the status of the weapon's development. Larry Wortzel, a member of the expert group that drafts the commissioned report, in November testimony to a House panel said China was bolstering its nuclear force by continuing development of the Dongfeng 41. "This missile could be equipped with a multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle, allowing it to carry as many as 10 nuclear warheads," Wortzel said.
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No doubt loaded with China's version of the W-88 warhead details of which were stolen in the 90's. :-[
 
Minuteman Aloft

Air Force Global Strike Command successfully launched an inert Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., Tuesday, the command announced. AFGSC conducts live Minuteman launches twice a year from Vandenberg out over the Pacific Ocean to assure the readiness of the US nuclear ICBM fleet. Missileers from the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom AFB, Mont., fired the Minuteman III Dec. 17 from Vandy’s launch facility 4 at 4:36 a.m. Pacific Time. They were assisted by Vandenberg's 576th Flight Test Squadron, stated a release. "Our Airmen maintain and operate this weapon system year round in some challenging environments, and today's test is a result of their tireless devotion to this mission," said Maj. Gen. Jack Weinstein, interim commander of 20th Air Force, which oversees the training and management of the Air Force's ICBM force.
 
http://www.airforcemag.com/DRArchive/Pages/2013/December%202013/December%2019%202013/Last-B-52G-Falls-to-New-START.aspx
 
Current And Future Air Force Cruise Missile SPOs Cooperating On LRSO


Posted: Dec. 19, 2013

The Air Force officials tasked with defining the requirements and cost of the service's next-generation cruise missile, known as the Long-Range Standoff weapon, have sought out expertise from the staff managing the munition LRSO will replace -- the AGM-86 Air-Launched Cruise Missile, set to stay in service until 2030.

The nuclear-armed ALCM and its variant that carries a conventional explosive, called CALCM, are undergoing a collection of life-extension modifications and are not suffering from common sustainment issues like parts obsolescence, according to Col. Kevin Psmithe, the chief of the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center's missile sustainment division.

Psmithe provided written responses to questions from Inside the Air Force on Dec. 13. The ALCM has been operational since 1986, according to Air Force budget documents, making it 44 years old at the end of its life.

The service requested just $5 million in fiscal year 2014 to advance work on LRSO, which is expected to be part of the future combat family of systems featuring a new long-range bomber. Spending on the new munition will rise rapidly to $40 million in FY-15 and then $203 million the following year, and the Air Force completed an analysis of alternatives (AOA) earlier this year.

Psmithe said the LRSO and ALCM program offices have been in communication about how to approach the future weapon development effort.

"The LRSO program office has visited our program office to discuss lessons learned and relevant information with our subject-matter experts," he said. "While we are not actively managing any aspect of the LRSO program and are not directly involved in the AOA, we are regularly providing data and expertise on cruise missile sustainment to the LRSO program office as requested."

In addition to seeking information from Air Force experts, the service has awarded study contracts to defense industry giants Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, Boeing and Lockheed Martin. All four are likely to be involved in building the missile, the bomber that will carry it, or both.

The ALCM is integrated only on the B-52H, Psmithe said. Despite its age, the missile is in good shape for long-term sustainment because the Air Force initiated a pair of service-life extension programs relatively early in the weapon's operational life and "provided accurate funding forecasts" for those efforts, contrary to many Air Force acquisition and modernization programs.

"In 2008, the Air Force decided to partially demilitarize a portion of the ALCM fleet based on mission requirements," he said. "We used this opportunity to recapitalize high-cost and low-inventory components from those missiles that we could need for an extended service life. For the remaining ALCM fleet, the Air Force is implementing robust and proactive Service Life Extension Programs (SLEPs) to replace aging missile components before they could potentially fail." A secondary benefit is that the ALCM and CALCM weapons "are not currently experiencing significant parts shortages" associated with obsolescence and diminishing manufacturing sources, although the program office tracks those issues closely, he said.

The AGM-86 was built by Boeing and is maintained primarily by in-house Air Force technicians, Psmithe said. Boeing, which deferred all comments on the ALCM program to the service, is under contract for engineering and technical analysis as needed.

The Air Force's fiscal year 2014 budget request indicates that the ALCM life-extension programs are not only fully funded, but very inexpensive by military procurement standards and already well underway. According to the budget documents, the full cost of a handful of modifications on the missile comes to $115 million including all prior-year spending and concluding in FY-16. That total includes one SLEP initiative that requires just $2 million more to complete, and a "SLEP 2" program that will cost $31 million between FY-12 and FY-16.

The AGM-86 inventory is classified, but the budget documents show that 251 missiles are funded for modification as part of the second life-extension effort. SLEP 2 replaces three missile components the Air Force has deemed "critical" -- the warhead arming device, rotary switch and guided missile flight controller -- with refurbished components.

Frequent testing of the missile in flight and on the ground has helped inform those SLEP requirements. Psmithe said several missile flight tests, in which the nuclear or conventional warhead is replaced with a test instrumentation kit are performed each year, and the Air Force regularly studies the health and functionality of missile subcomponents and of the equipment needed to properly integrate the weapon onto the B-52. -- Gabe Starosta
 
To be completed in 'upcoming months'


Pentagon Examining Criticality, Fragility Of Nuclear Industrial Base


Posted: Dec. 18, 2013

The Pentagon is examining the nuclear-triad industrial base in a new assessment designed to suss out critical but struggling areas that need to be protected, Madelyn Creedon, the assistant secretary of defense for global strategic affairs, told lawmakers in a recent letter.

Creedon's Nov. 1 letter states that "the fragility and criticality assessment of the nuclear triad industrial base has commenced and will be completed in the upcoming months."

This assessment, which is integrating data from a number of different sources, started in November, Pentagon spokeswoman Cynthia Smith told Inside the Pentagon. Conducted by the Pentagon's Manufacturing and Industrial Base Policy Office, the assessment will include data from the Pentagon's 2011 sector-by-sector, tier-by-tier assessment, the missile fragility and criticality assessment, and inputs from Navy and Air Force subject matter experts, she said.

"For so long as nuclear weapons exist, the United States must maintain a credible deterrent," Smith said. "This requires a responsive industrial infrastructure that can maintain existing capabilities and manufacture new or replacement components as needed."

After the assessment is completed, the Pentagon will submit an overdue report on the nuclear triad, Creedon told lawmakers. The Pentagon had failed to meet a statutory requirement calling for a biennial report by March 2012 on the "industrial capabilities vital to the viability of the nuclear triad," she wrote. The Pentagon aims to combine this overdue fiscal year 2012 report with the 2014 one due in March.

The law requires the biennial report to look at "modernization and sustainment plans for each component of the nuclear triad over the 10-year period beginning on the date of the report," as well as the "funding required for each platform of the nuclear triad with respect to operation and maintenance, modernization and replacement." The report should also examine vital nuclear triad industrial capacities. The department had addressed the first two requirements in a separate report, but initial efforts to look at industrial capacities were not adequate, she said.

"Our initial assessment done to satisfy the [industrial capacities requirement] . . . did not evaluate industrial capabilities with the appropriate rigor or the level of detail required to meet the statute's intent for this report," Creedon wrote. "Thus, the delivery of this section of the report was delayed in order to examine more thoroughly how robust or single-string our supplier capabilities are utilizing a Fragility and Criticality assessment process."

The Pentagon has been examining different programs to find critical and fragile industrial base niches. According to the department's 2012 annual industrial capabilities report acquisition chief Frank Kendall sent to lawmakers in October, his shop had established a process last year to work with military services to find in the supply chain of major programs these "critical and fragile industrial base niches" (ITP, Nov. 21).

Led by the Manufacturing and Industrial Base Policy Office, these assessments are helping to inform budget decisions. In addition, the department's ongoing sector-by-sector, tier-by-tier assessment is helping to determine which segments of industry would be critical and fragile. -- Jordana Mishory
 
http://nnsa.energy.gov/mediaroom/pressreleases/hepf

Some good news, energetics so important!
 
Going slightly OT for a moment:
j8GDDJr.jpg

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?234011-Happy-New-Year-Russian-style
 
Grey Havoc said:
Going slightly OT for a moment:
j8GDDJr.jpg

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?234011-Happy-New-Year-Russian-style
Click to expand...

^---- I'm sure Freud would have some humorous things to say about that display. ;D

On another note, it looks like the Nuclear Weapons Archive can be added to the list of dead sites. :(
 
sferrin said:
Grey Havoc said:
Going slightly OT for a moment:
j8GDDJr.jpg

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?234011-Happy-New-Year-Russian-style
Click to expand...

^---- I'm sure Freud would have some humorous things to say about that display. ;D

On another note, it looks like the Nuclear Weapons Archive can be added to the list of dead sites. :(
Click to expand...

Sorry what does that mean 'dead sites' ?
 
bobbymike said:
Sorry what does that mean 'dead sites' ?
Click to expand...

Sites that no longer work. Tried to go there several times today, several different ways, and all I got was "site not found".

edit: And now it works. . . :-[
 
sferrin said:
bobbymike said:
Sorry what does that mean 'dead sites' ?
Click to expand...

Sites that no longer work. Tried to go there several times today, several different ways, and all I got was "site not found".

edit: And now it works. . . :-[
Click to expand...

Ya I found it worked for me as well thank goodness one of my go to sights on nukes ;D
 
http://www.nti.org/gsn/article/russia-test-launches-two-strategic-missiles/
 
AFGSC’s First Wargame Sharpens Strategic Focus

Air Force Global Strike Command recently concluded its first command-sponsored and developed wargame—codenamed “Strategic Vigilance”—at Barksdale AFB, La. The four-day war game was assembled under a directive from US Strategic Command to renew emphasis on nuclear wargaming across the command’s components, as well as Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh’s call to renew focus on nuclear table top exercises to enhance strategic thinking in the Air Force on nuclear strategy. The game was designed to explore AFGSC’s ability to conduct operations across the stages of nuclear conflict, said Maj. Andrew Smith, the chief of war gaming and strategic studies for AFGSC. The exercise involved participants from USSTRATCOM, USAF Headquarters, and the LeMay Center for Doctrine Development and Education at Maxwell AFB, Ala. New and emerging nuclear armed adversaries, modernization of nuclear weapons systems across the world, and the concept of deterrence against hostile regional actors are all part of AFGSC’s strategic challenges today, command officials said. Gaming out scenarios helps the command understand its environment and successfully execute the nuclear mission, said Brig. Gen. Clinton Crosier, AFGSC’s strategic director of plans, programs, requirements, and assessments. “This ‘first’ for the command is indicative of the command’s commitment to constantly [improve] the nuclear enterprise,” said Crosier.
 
U.S. to Start Cutting Submarine Missile-Launchers Next Year
Jan. 6, 2014By Rachel Oswald


The United States next year is slated to begin reducing launch tubes on each of its Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines, a new independent report states. The elimination of four operational launch tubes on each of the 14 submarines that make up the Navy's Ohio submarine fleet will be the first substantial reduction in U.S. strategic weapon delivery capability since the 2011 New START accord went into effect, according to Hans Kristensen, who co-authored an assessment on the current status of U.S. nuclear forces. The report was published in the January/February edition of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Nearly three years after the New START pact with Russia entered into force, implementation of the treaty has "been going very slowly," Kristensen said in a brief Monday phone interview. The treaty requires Russia and the United States by 2018 to each reduce their fielded stockpiles of strategic nuclear warheads to 1,550 and to cut their arsenals of long-range delivery vehicles down to 700 apiece, with an additional 100 systems allowed in reserve on each side. "The way that the U.S. military has approached implementation of the New START treaty so far has not done anything that has actually affected the actual number of nuclear [delivery vehicles] that are in the war plan," said Kristensen, who directs the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists. Instead, the Pentagon has focused on reducing the nuclear-delivery capability of selected vehicles, such as heavy bombers, that have already been retired, he said.

The Defense Department has the latitude to pursue that approach because the treaty allows so many years -- seven, specifically -- before each side must carry out all mandated reductions, Kristensen said. Once all of the Ohio-class submarines have had their launch tubes capped at 20 each -- a project that is to take place in the 2015-to-2016 time frame -- the United States will be able to deploy no more than 240 submarine-launched ballistic missiles at any time, according to the report written by Kristensen and Robert Norris, who is also with the Federation of American Scientists. The submarine set to replace aging Ohio-class vessels -- dubbed "SSBN(X)" -- is expected to have only 16 missile tubes, which will reduce further the number of sea-launched ballistic missiles that the United States can deploy. The replacement fleet is also envisioned to be smaller -- only 12 submarines instead of the current 14. The Navy is not expected to begin building the first boat before 2021, and could field the vessel a decade later, according to the Bulletin report.

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Russia tests and deploys we disarm :'(
 
Chin Up

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel thanked airmen of the 90th Missile Wing at F. E. Warren AFB, Wyo., for their oft-overlooked commitment to assuring the US' nuclear deterrence, while stressing the importance of nuclear arms reduction. The Jan. 9 visit, which follows reports the ICBM force suffers the lowest job satisfaction[/url] in the Air Force, was the final stop in a two-day trip to Wyoming, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Texas. Hagel said he was impressed by the “professionalism” as well as the “attitude and commitment” of airmen at both F.E. Warren and the Nuclear Weapons Center at Kirtland AFB, N.M., which he visited the day before. Hagel also underscored the Administration's commitment to New START, saying reducing the country’s nuclear arsenal is “clearly in our national security interest and we'll continue to be part of that effort.” However, the US also will continue to modernize its deterrent force, stressed Hagel. "Reducing those nuclear weapons, I think, is important," he said.

As to modernization, he said the Defense Department’s study to determine options for a Minuteman III replacement are nearly complete. "We're going to invest in the modernization we need to invest in to keep that deterrent stronger than it's ever been, and you have my commitment to that, and you deserve to know that," he added.
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A new missile in new super hard silos would sure increase my job satisfaction
 
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/iran-nuclear-bill-consequences-nuclear-chief-says-161839464.html
 
http://csis.org/publication/nuclear-scholars-initiative-1

Downloadabe document at the link that includes a good article on Russian nuclear modernization from 1991 to 2012.
 
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/irans-rouhani-world-powers-surrendered-iranian-nations-will_774616.html

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obama-give-peace-chance_774191.html

http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-iran-nuclear-side-deal-20140113,0,4116168.story#axzz2qNVVzK23


Let's see if this post disappears.
 
U.S. Bill Boosts Warhead Spending by Nearly $1 Billion


Jan. 14, 2014

By Rachel Oswald

Global Security Newswire

Then-U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu in 2011 receives an overview of the B-83 gravity bomb tooling system from National Nuclear Security Administration Production Office Manager Steve Erhart. A draft House-Senate congressional spending bill would increase by almost $1 billion NNSA weapons funding in fiscal 2014. Then-U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu in 2011 receives an overview of the B-83 gravity bomb tooling system from National Nuclear Security Administration Production Office Manager Steve Erhart. A draft House-Senate congressional spending bill would increase by almost $1 billion NNSA weapons funding in fiscal 2014. (U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration photo) A new U.S. Congress omnibus spending bill would increase funding to the Energy Department's nuclear-weapons efforts by close to $1 billion for fiscal 2014. Legislation released on Monday jointly by the Senate and House appropriations committees would provide $7.8 billion for National Nuclear Security Administration work on the nuclear arsenal -- an $874 million increase over fiscal 2013 post-sequester enacted levels, according to a bill summary. The "big increase" in fiscal 2014 spending showed that the decrease in program funding last year was only temporary and the "NNSA weapons budget is back on the rise," Kingston Reif, who analyzes national strategic defense spending for the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation, said in an e-mail.


At the same time, "Congress once again proved unwilling to fund NNSA weapons activities at the funding level projected for 2014 as part of the 2010 modernization plan worked out in conjunction with the New START treaty," Reif said. The Obama administration in that congressionally mandated plan projected $8.4 billion in total fiscal 2014 spending on weapons activities by the nuclear agency, a semiautonomous branch of the Energy Department. Under the new spending bill, NNSA funding for the B-83 gravity bomb would be capped at $40 million until the Nuclear Weapons Council confirms to Congress that the warhead would be mothballed no later than fiscal 2025, or "as soon as confidence in the B-61-12 stockpile is gained," the joint draft legislative text reads. The B-83 bomb is a powerful warhead capable of destroying whole cities. The less powerful B-61 gravity bomb, which is deployed in Europe, would require refurbishment if it is to remain safe and reliable, according to the Obama administration. The omnibus spending bill would lower the amount of money given to NNSA nonproliferation efforts, appropriating $1.95 billion, a $289 million drop below fiscal 2013 post-sequester enacted levels. Funding for some defense programs is higher than previously anticipated, due to the sequestration relief deal reached late last year by House Republicans and Senate Democrats. Under the budget agreement, the Pentagon is slated to get approximately $22.5 billion in sequestration relief in fiscal 2014. The deparment has been operating under a continuing resolution for military spending.


Congressional appropriators in hammering out the spending bill increased or restored back to pre-sequester levels funding for a number of nuclear weapon-related programs, including:

-- A $92 million increase for the U.S. Air Force's program to develop the Long Range Strike bomber, according to the Senate Appropriations Committee bill summary. The Pentagon in its fiscal 2014 budget request sought $379 million for research and development of the strategic aircraft, which the Air Force anticipates acquiring sometime after the end of the decade. It was not immediately clear if the increase in funding was compared to the department's budget request or to actual fiscal 2013 funding levels.

-- Full funding for the Navy's program to develop a replacement to the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine, the bill synopsis says. The Pentagon in its budget request sought $1.2 billion for the program.

-- Full funding for rocket motors for the Trident D-5 submarine-launched ballistic missile, constituting nearly $33 million over what the program would have received had the continuing resolution remained in effect, according to the bill summary.

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Never going to pass up more money but where are the funds for the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent? Plus I really hope we are researching advanced warhead concepts to stay on the cutting edge of nuclear weapons technology
 
Nuclear Decisions and Budget Constraints

The Air Force should choose to quickly integrate nuclear weapons onto its future Long Range Strike Bomber rather than the F-35, if budgetary constraints force a choice, said former Chief of Staff retired Gen. Norton Schwartz. "Absent financial commitment and burden sharing [by NATO allies], I would argue that those resources now allocated for F-35 nuclear integration…should be realigned to expedite Long Range [Strike] Bomber nuclear certification," said Schwartz during a Jan. 16 Stimson Center event in Washington D.C. The legacy F-16 and Tornado fighters, currently providing European-based deterrence, still have several years left despite their age. Buttressed by B-2 and B-52 strategic bombers, these assets could bridge the gap to a new bomber, fulfilling the US' allied commitment. LRSB and the F-35 will likely be armed with the upgraded version of the B-61 nuclear freefall bomb, currently supplying NATO. Unlike the B-52, which relies on the stand-off Air Launched Cruise Missile to reach targets, LRSB would be a stealthy, penetrating bomber, allowing use of air-dropped bombs. As such, "B-61 life extension is necessary independent of F-35 nuclear integration," said Schwartz. Going a step further, if forced to sacrifice ALCM replacement or B-61 modernization, Schwartz said he "would prioritize the B-61; others might not agree," he added. "I prioritize these based on availability of delivery platforms, retirement profiles, and so on," he explained. "I certainly would commit to the weapon that would be most useful for deterrence purposes for the Long Range Strike Bomber," he concluded.
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So we may have to sacrifice the ALCM replacement due to budgetary constraints but the US government spent $1 billion on a website :'(
 
The draft House-Senate spending bill that Congress is close to approving would deny the Pentagon any monies to begin eliminating underground ICBM silos. The omnibus fiscal 2014 spending legislation forbids the Defense Department from using any appropriated funds "to conduct any environmental impact analysis related to Minuteman 3 silos that contain a missile," reads the draft bill text. The House passed the appropriations bill by a wide margin on Wednesday and the Senate was expected to start debate soon on the measure. The U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command as of the beginning of September was maintaining 448 silo-based ICBMs spread out evenly across three sites in Montana, North Dakota and Wyoming. Under the New START accord with Russia, the United States is required by 2018 to bring the total number of heavy bombers, ICBMs and submarine-launched ballistic missiles it deploys down to 700, with an additional 100 delivery vehicles permitted in reserve.

Lawmakers from the states that host the ICBMs have argued for the continued retention of the missiles and their silos. U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee member John Hoeven (R-N.D.) in a Tuesday press release defended keeping all of the silos functional -- regardless of whether they continue to house an ICBM -- on the grounds that doing so might confuse any potential enemies about exactly where the United States deploys its missiles. The Fiscal 2014 Defense Authorization Act included a "sense of the Congress" that the Pentagon should preserve all silos that currently house a Minuteman 3 missile in at least "warm status," so that they could be returned to full operational capability, if need be. It likely will be some years before the Pentagon begins making serious reductions to its silo-based missiles, according to Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists. In an interview last week, he said the military will first begin eliminating Trident launch tubes from its Ohio-class ballistic submarine fleet. Next, it likely would start removing the nuclear capability from some of its heavy bombers.
Reductions to the number of U.S. deployed ICBMs will probably come last under the New START accord, because "that's a big contentious political issue," according to Kristensen. "All of the senators that have them in their states don’t want anyone to do anything about them."

At the same time as Hoeven and others defend the ICBM force as a critical component of U.S. nuclear deterrence, the Air Force officer corps with launch control of the missiles has been enmeshed recently in repeated scandals. The revelations include allegations of widespread cheating on a proficiency test, investigations into drug possession, and reports of violations of security policies designed to protect access to ICBM-firing keys.
 
Got reports about some posts being not "news", but "opinions".
But as far as I can see, the expressed opinions weren't from forum members, but cited from
actual participants in the ongoing debate or lawyers, who told their point of view.
Don't know about the importance of such opinions, but I would regard them nevertheless as
interesting in the context, as they can enlighten the public opinion.
 

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