nuclear-news

The US could save $70 billion over the next 10 years by taking “common sense” measures to trim its nuclear forces, yet still deploy the maximum number of warheads permitted under the New START Treaty, according to a new report by the Arms Control Association. Those steps include cutting the number of proposed new ballistic missile submarines to eight from 12, delaying plans to build new nuclear-capable bombers, scaling back the upgrade of a nuclear bomb, and forgoing development of a new intercontinental ballistic missile system.

“In my view, this is really a nuclear ATM that we can cash in on and take money out of and spend it on other things,” said Tom Collina, the report author. Further savings could be achieved if the one-third reduction in the nuclear stockpile proposed by President Obama in 2013 were to be enacted, the report said.

The current plan to rebuild US nuclear forces will cost at least $355 billion over the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office estimated in a December 2013 report. The CBO put the cost of the US Navy’s plan to design and procure 12 new ballistic missile submarines to replace the existing Ohio-class boats at $100 billion. But Collina said that the US could get by with eight new subs simply by having them patrol closer to US shores, instead of deploying them near the coasts of Russia and China.

The Long Range Strike Bomber that the US Air Force wants to build could cost $80 billion, according to the report……….http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/magazine/physicstoday/news/10.1063/PT.5.1032