House Hearing to Examine B-61 Warhead Modernization Program
The Nuclear Threat Initiative
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A House Armed Services Committee subpanel on Tuesday is slated to examine efforts to modernize the B-61 nuclear warhead, a program that has been troubled by escalating costs and schedule over-runs brought on by budget cuts and management issues.
Members of the HASC Strategic Forces Subcommittee are scheduled to hear testimony from Donald Cook, deputy administrator for defense programs at the National Nuclear Security Administration; Madelyn Creedon, assistant secretary of Defense; and Air Force Gen. Robert Kehler, head of Strategic Command.
The refurbishment of the U.S. arsenal of B-61 gravity bombs — approximately 200 of which are still fielded at six overseas bases belonging to NATO allies — is now projected to cost a total of $8.2 billion, according to the National Nuclear Security Administration. However, a separate assessment conducted by the Defense Department’s Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation office found the final price tag would probably be nearer to $10.4 billion, noted the Project On Government Oversight in a recent blog post.
A $30 million cut to the program’s fiscal 2013 budget necessitated by “sequestration” budget cuts is expected to bring the project six more months behind schedule. The lowered budget and schedule delay means the B-61 Life Extension Program likely will rise by another estimated $230 million, according to the POGO analysis.
NNSA officials are currently enacting $60 million in fiscal 2014 cuts to the project as a result of program management changes and the continued imposition of the automatic, across-the-board sequestration cuts spurred in part by the 2011 Budget Control Act
The gravity bomb’s life-extension program is presently in the development and engineering stage. The effort is intended to modernize both nuclear and non-nuclear parts of the decades-old warhead, which has already been in service 10 years longer than was first planned, according to an NNSA press release.
The modernization effort has been opposed by arms-control advocates who question its expense and efficacy given the Obama administration’s stated ambition of further reducing the U.S. nuclear arsenal through negotiated bilateral cuts with Russia that are hoped to encompass tactical warheads such as the B-61.
“It’s important that our elected officials realize the extent to which the costs of this program have spiraled out of control,” wrote POGO national security analyst Ethan Rosenkraanz, whose organization is focused on exposing government misconduct, waste and corruption.
“Given the current economic climate, asking U.S. taxpayers to shoulder the burden of refurbishing this weapon without a critical mission and plagued with cost overruns is irresponsible,” Rosenkraanz said.
