‘Generational’ defense pitch has nuclear-weapons policy, force changes, more NNSA funding

May 31, 2024

By Exchange Monitor

The U.S. should declare nuclear “revitalization” in and outside of the National Nuclear Security Administration a national priority, the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Wednesday.

The call by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) was part of a 52-page proposal for “a generational investment in the U.S. military,” in which Wicker detailed plans to push the fiscal year 2025 defense budget $55 billion beyond existing spending caps.

For the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Wicker proposed a few things the agency did not ask for in its 2025 budget request, including $225 million for the tritium finishing facility at the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C., plus $300 million to a high explosives synthesis, formulation, and production facility at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas. 

The administration did not request funding for these facilities, and the House Armed Services Committee did not authorize funding for them in their markup of the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act last week.

Outside of the NNSA, Wicker wants to change not only the configuration of U.S. nuclear forces, but the high-level policies that govern their use and reach, according to the report.

Among other things, Wicker proposed extending production of Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines to 14 boats from 12, boosting domestic uranium enrichment to support AUKUS submarines and civilian nuclear infrastructure, and increasing the number of nuclear-capable B-52 bombers as a hedge against possible delays to nuclear-tipped Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missiles and ballistic-missile submarines.

Wicker also requested additional warheads for currently-deployed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles, each of which now carries only one, and concept studies for using cruise missiles rather than gravity bombs on fighter aircraft.

Current plans call for putting air-launched nuclear cruise missiles only aboard the B52-H until the future B-21 Raider bomber is ready and takes over as the sole U.S. carrier of airborne nuclear-weapons. The F35-A will, under existing plans, be certified only to carry a pair of B61-12 nuclear gravity bombs.

Internationally, Wicker said the U.S. should sound out the Republic of Korea, Japan, and Australia about “their willingness to engage in a nuclear burden sharing arrangement” similar to the U.S. arrangement with NATO allies, some of whom host nuclear weapons on their territories.