Top military leaders told Congress on Wednesday that the need to upgrade the nation’s nuclear deterrent is “nearing a crossroads” as the platforms, weapons and the infrastructure that supports them are all several decades old now.
Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, pointed to the pieces of the triad that are nearing the end of their service life. Minuteman III missiles were first fielded in 1970, the B-52 and B-2 bombers first deployed in the ’50s and ’80s respectively, and ballistic missile submarines first entered service in 1981, he said. Even the warheads are aging and were mostly designed and built in the 1970s.
Gen. Paul Selva, the vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, told the House Armed Services Committee that the military is currently facing the challenge of maintaining the nuclear triad and that the need to recapitalize is becoming more and more apparent.
“These systems will not remain viable forever,” he said.
Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., and ranking member of the panel, said the country still needs a nuclear deterrent, but that there are too many competing budget priorities to just keep throwing money at the triad, especially given President Trump’s proposed military build-up that would see the Army, Marine Corps and Navy all grow.
“At a certain point, the numbers don’t add up,” Smith said. “I don’t think we should simply say well it’s important, so we’re going to spend whatever it takes.”
But Selva said that in the joint force, modernization and recapitalization of the nuclear deterrent is the “No. 1 priority,” especially as adversaries like Russia and China continue to both grow and modernize their nuclear force.
The nuclear triad is made up of a ground-based strategic deterrent, nuclear submarines and the Air Force’s bomber. Northrop Grumman received a contract last year to begin with on the B-21 to replace the aging bomber fleet and the Navy is currently working on procuring a replacement for the Ohio-class submarines.
Asked which leg of the triad should be tackled first in terms of budget priority, Gen. John Hyten, the head of U.S. Strategic Command, said that answering that is like “choosing among your children.” While the oldest of the three is the bomber, he said that the ICBM is also aging and nation’s ballistic submarines at some point won’t be able to submerge.
“You realize that under the current construct of what deterrence is, I can’t give up any leg of triad. That’s why all three have to be modernized,” Hyten said.
Officials stressed that the deterrent today is safe, secure, effective and reliable, but that that won’t be the case in the near future.
“As these missiles continue to age out, they will become potentially unreliable,” Gen. Stephen Wilson, the Air Force vice chief, said. “But looking 10 years in the future, we don’t have much slack.”
