:

Nuclear Modernization

NNSA Estimates W87-1 Will Cost Almost $15B, GAO Questions Ready Date

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2020

SHARE:

NNSA Estimates W87-1 Will Cost Almost $15B, GAO Questions Ready Date

The Air Force test launches a Minuteman III ICBM. Photo: Air Force.

According to a recently declassified report, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) thinks it will cost some $14.8 billion to build W87-1 warheads for the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) missiles planned to replace Minuteman III as the land-based leg of the nuclear triad starting around 2030. That could make W87-1 — a newly manufactured copy of the existing W87 design, but with a brand new plutonium-pit trigger — “the most expensive program of this type to date,” the Government…

Navy Looks To Eventually Assemble Battleship At HII Newport News; Faces More Dem Opposition

The Navy told lawmakers this week it found a dry dock at HII’s [HII] Newport News Shipbuilding shipyard it thinks can use for final assembly of the new Trump-class battleship […]

Navy Leaders Downplay Looking At Foreign Navy Shipbuilding Amid Lawmaker Objections

The Navy’s top leaders this week seemed to downplay and back down on the service potentially using foreign shipyards to build U.S. Navy ships or buying foreign designed warships overseas […]

Army

Senate Defense Appropriators See ‘Risk’ With Army’s Reconciliation Plan To Fund Munitions Increase

The Senate’s top defense appropriators cited concern this week with the Army’s request to fund the majority of its large increase to munitions procurement in fiscal year 2027 through the […]

Army

Army Relooking At Its ‘Whole Aviation Transformation’ Plan, Acting Chief Tells Lawmakers

The Army is relooking at its “whole aviation transformation initiative,” the service’s acting chief of staff told lawmakers on Tuesday, to include its approach for future procurement of “enduring” platforms. […]