
The head of the Defense Department’s nuclear enterprise defended the B61 nuclear gravity bomb life extension program (LEP), which is under fire as too expensive and wasteful in an era of budget cutting and further nuclear weapons reductions. U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) chief Air Force Gen. Robert Kehler yesterday said modernization of the nuclear enterprise is essential as virtually all of the weapons are over 20 years old, and in some cases, substantially over 20 years old. Kehler also…