
The Defense Department might need $18 billion added to its budget to keep it afloat once the bow wave of nuclear modernization programs crashes ashore in 2021 and beyond, according to the Pentagon’s director of cost assessment and program evaluation (CAPE).The Defense Department is planning for a substantial increase in its top-line budget in parallel with a major ramp up in platform production beginning in fiscal 2021 when it will be producing nuclear submarines, a new bomber and replacing its…