The US nuclear arsenal continues to be enhanced with evidence that the LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program can add 634 missiles in the near future. Is this really necessary when America’s existing nuclear arsenal is more than enough to ensure the country’s security?
Capital doubled
According to website slate.fr, on January 18, the US Air Force announced that the cost of producing an ICBM missile with an LGM-35A nuclear warhead suddenly increased by 37%. This means that the budget for the Sentinel program has increased to $131 billion, double the expected level proposed by the Air Force in 2015.
According to the latest budget estimates, the US Air Force will develop its arsenal by adding 634 LGM-35A ICBM missiles, of which 450 missiles will be stored in silos, the rest will be used in military operations. testing and replacement. The new budget estimate does not include missile maintenance costs over the next 20 years, which is expected to push the total cost to more than 200 billion USD, nor does it take into account the 15.9 billion USD investment in procuring nuclear warheads. New kernel W87-1.
The question is: Are the new ICBM missiles developed to replace the old LGM-30G Minuteman III missile really necessary? ICBM LGM-30G Minuteman III was produced in 1962 and has been in use since 1970. This is the oldest ICBM in the world with an operational history of more than 50 years. The LGM-30G Minuteman III has been improved many times and may one day have to be removed from the arsenal.
However, cost overruns for the Sentinel program could cause the program to exceed the limits of the Nunn-McCurdy Act – a law named after Democratic Senator Sam Nunn and Representative David McCurdy in 2019. 1983, which required the Pentagon to notify Congress when weapons purchases exceeded planned baseline costs by 15%. When weapons procurement exceeds 25% and reaches the maximum threshold of 50% of the original cost, this is considered a “serious” violation of the Nunn-McCurdy Act and must be rescinded, unless the Secretary of State Chamber confirms that this program is important to national security.
In a statement on the evening of January 18, 2024, the Pentagon informed the US Congress that the Sentinel program had reached this “critical point”. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will soon make a decision whether the LGM-35A ICBM is necessary to protect US security or not. In case the Nunn-McCurdy Act must be activated, the Pentagon’s Sentinel program will be at risk of being canceled. In the opposite direction, the Sentinel program will support the Pentagon in consolidating plans to replace the arsenal of the “nuclear triad” (including: nuclear bombs on strategic bombers, nuclear missiles on ships). underground and land-based ballistic missiles).
If all goes well, the LGM-35A Sentinel ICBM will be put into use in 2029. Image: US Air Force
The bargain to modernize the “nuclear triad”
Also according to the website slate.fr, the initiative to replace the arsenal of the “nuclear trio” began with a bargain. In 2010, then-US President Barack Obama tried to convince the Senate to ratify the New Nuclear Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) that he negotiated with then-President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev. . However, Republican Senators have set a condition that they will only ratify the treaty if Mr. Obama agrees to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on new ICBMs, bombers, submarines and nuclear warheads.
Mr. Obama wrote a letter with selective wording, emphasizing that he would provide funding to “replace or modernize” the “nuclear triad”. The key word here is “or modernize,” which means updating only the software or communications systems of certain weapons. However, the Republican Party considers the concept of “modernization” to be a synonym for “replacement” and believes that Mr. Obama agreed to spend $1,300 billion over 30 years for this purpose.
In 2017, when Donald Trump took office as US President, then-Secretary of Defense, retired General James Mattis, seriously considered dismantling ICBMs. But at that time, the Republican Party was pushing for the Sentinel program to replace the arsenal of the “nuclear triad”…
In the context of the current US ICBM manufacturing technology being weaker than that of Russia and China, and the double capital cost is causing the US Air Force’s Sentinel program to face great difficulties. “In the worst case, the most feasible option is to completely eliminate the ability to deter land-based strategic ICBMs in favor of a submarine-based ICBM force,” slate.fr said.
LINH OANH