Nuclear modernization concerns are again on the table for fiscal 2021 defense policy negotiations, as House lawmakers raise issues about staffing, program delays, and how to use the weapons themselves. The Air Force’s three major nuclear weapon upgrade programs—the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent, the Long-Range Standoff ...
GBSD
The Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center is splitting its management of intercontinental ballistic missiles in two as the next-generation Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent progresses. AFNWC’s former Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Systems Directorate at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is now the Minuteman III Systems Directorate and the ...
The Air Force's Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent program has passed its preliminary design review, clearing the way for an award of the engineering and manufacturing development contract by the end of September. If all goes as planned, the new intercontinental ballistic missiles will be deployed to ...
The Air Force is reshuffling the oversight of its fighters, bombers, and mobility aircraft, separating fighters and bombers and putting tankers and the Open Skies recap program together with other airlift programs. The reorganization is meant to put greater emphasis on bombers and extract the ...
Deterring in Space, Winning in Jointness
A new era in land-based nuclear weapons could usher in changes to the Air Force’s missile test regime.
The Air Force expects to lose confidence in the full viability of its 400 intercontinental ballistic missiles starting in 2026, three years before replacement nuclear missiles start entering the ground, according to a new Government Accountability Office report.“ According to Air Force officials, as a ...
The Pentagon's fiscal 2021 budget request increases spending on nuclear modernization, space, cyberspace, and multi-domain operations in preparation for great power competition, while reducing overseas contingency operations funding for the wars in the Middle East. The Pentagon's total request is for $705.4 billion, including $636.4 ...
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif.—You see the intercontinental ballistic missile before you hear it. Upon ignition in its underground silo, the horizon blooms bright red-orange, and a ball of light rises west over the Pacific Ocean. A dull roar intensifies as the unarmed nuclear missile ...
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, CALIF.—Air Force Global Strike Command’s No. 2 officer said his organization is comfortable with how the next-generation land-based nuclear missile program is progressing despite having only Northrop Grumman involved in the design competition. “What we have seen so far is going ...
The End of Nuclear “Kick the Can”
After a heated partisan fight over the Pentagon's nuclear modernization efforts, House and Senate authorizers agreed to let the Air Force's key strategic programs move forward relatively unscathed.
