Thread: Obama already set to spend $20 BILLION a year to update U.S. nukes

Obama already set to spend $20B a year to update U.S. nukes

Trump tweets that nation must ‘expand its nuclear capability’


In this July 9, 2016, file photo, President Barack Obama speaks at the NATO Summit, in Warsaw, Poland. Obama’s foreign policy legacy may be defined as much by what he didn’t do as what he did. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz, File) more >

View Comments Print
By Rowan Scarborough - The Washington Times - Friday, December 23, 2016

President-elect Donald Trump has stirred up fears of a new arms race in a Twitter message on improving “nuclear capability,” but President Obama already has committed to spending as much as $20 billion a year to update the nation’s ability to conduct a nuclear war.

During his two terms, Mr. Obama has blessed the go-ahead for their new major weapon systems: a strategic bomber; ground-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM); and an air-launched, atomic-cruise missile. He also funded a new more accurate atomic bomb.

At a hearing this summer, a top Pentagon policymaker and two four-star generals laid out long-term modernization plans of up to $450 billion over 20 years to stay ahead of China and Russia.

---

SEE ALSO: Donald Trump on nukes tweet: Let it be an arms race

---

“Our capabilities as a whole have lasted well beyond their designed service life,” testified Navy Adm. Cecil D. Haney, who heads U.S. Strategic Command. “It is crucial that we modernize our strategic deterrence capabilities, which underpin our national and global security.”

“Strategic deterrent” means ground- and submarine-based ICBMs, and long range bombers. The triad’s mission is to strike any enemy who dared to attack the United States with its nuclear arsenal. China and Russia have such a capability. North Korea is moving to extend the ranges of its arsenal.

Mr. Trump on Thursday tweeted his objective as commander in chief: “The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes.”
The words are somewhat cryptic in that “expand its nuclear capability” does not necessary mean more warheads. Regardless, the U.S. now operates under a START agreement with Moscow that limits warhead counts. The American arsenal is 85 percent below a Cold War peak. The numbers: 1,550 deployed warheads; 700 deployed delivery systems.”

The U.S. has no such agreement with communist China, which is rapidly expanding its atomic arsenal.

Some might argue Mr. Obama had already followed Mr. Trump’s tweet.

The president has approved development of a new strategic bomber, the B-21, that would outperform the very old B-52. He has also approved research into smaller-warhead nuclear weapons.

It’s not just aging planes. The nuclear-tipped Air Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM), the strike weapon carried by the B-52, is 30 years old. It was designed to last 10 years.

“It’s having difficulties maintaining its reliability,” Gen. Robin Rand, head of Air Force Strike Command, told a House Armed Services Committee panel last July. “But more importantly, the missile will not be survivable in the ever-increasing A2AD environment.”

This is a Pentagon acronym that refers to the war planning concept of “anti-access and area denial.” In this case, it means the enemy has counter-measures to defeat cruise missiles.

Gen. Rand, who oversees all nuclear bombers and ICBMs, asked the committee to continue funding its replacement, the LRSO, or long-range standoff weapon.

“We need a new weapon system,” he said.

Robert Scher, assistant secretary of defense for strategic plans, put the modernization cost at up to $450 billion over 20 years, or about $20 billion a year.

“To deter massive nuclear attack, the United States must maintain a force that is invulnerable to a disarming first strike,” Mr. Scher said.

He added, “The need to sustain effective deterrence and strategic stability drives the requirement to modernize U.S. nuclear forces,” he testified. “And we must make investments now to have replacements ready when needed. … Claims that U.S. modernization signals a nuclear arms buildup or a renewed arms race do not fairly characterize our activities and those of other countries.”

Adm. Haney focused on the growing threat of Russia.

President Vladimir Putin this week pledge to “strengthen” his nuclear forces.

Adm. Haney, whose command draws ups the specific target list for each country deemed a possible nuke threat, said Moscow is modernizing virtually every component, including submarines, cruise missiles and ICMBs, both static and mobile.

“Which means they can move them around. Harder to find,” he testified.

Gen. Rand put in a pitch to fund the silo-based Ground Base Strategic Deterrence (GBSD) to replace the 50-year-old Minuteman III missile.

The Pentagon completed tests in October 2015 on a new version of the B61 series of nuclear bombs.
The bombs, minus nuclear capability, were tested at the Tonopah Test Range in Nevada, Global Security.org reported. “The B61-12 is considered more accurate than previous versions. It was to be deployed at an air base in Germany.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...-to-update-us/

Donald Trump's Call for 'Arms Race' Boggles Nuclear Experts

PHOTO: Air Force Reveals Replacement For B-52 Bomber… And It’s JAW-DROPPING

Feb 27, 2016

The B-52 bomber is considered to be one of America’s most lethal bombers, capable of carrying nuclear and conventional ordinance, however it is also extremely old and in need of replacement.

Yahoo News reported that on Friday the U.S. Air Force released a picture of its newest stealth bomber which, when built, will begin to replace the B-52s.

The new Long Range Strike Bomber, temporarily called the B-21, is being built by Northrop Grumman, and it bears a striking resemblance to the famous B-2 stealth bomber, also made by Northrop Grumman.

The bomber has yet to be built, so it is possible that the final product could look different than the artist’s rendering below.


The B-21 will employ the latest in technology, giving America’s pilots completely superiority over any enemy they may face. These same pilots will also have a chance to name the bomber when it is built.


“This aircraft represents the future for our airmen, and (their) voice is important to this process,” Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James stated.

“The airman who submits the selected name will help me announce it at the (Air Force Association) conference this fall,” she said.

The B-21 is predicted to cost over $100 billion over the next few decades, and the Air Force wants 100 of the planes to start replacing the B-52s, as well as B-1s, which have been in service since the Cold War.

As technology evolves at an incredible pace, the military has struggled to implement the technology in older planes. Newer planes, like the F-35 fighter jet, have been built so that newer technologies can be easily incorporated into them, ensuring that America will always be the dominate military power in the world.

http://conservativetribune.com/air-force-bomber/