nuclear-news

Democrat Joe Biden has not said whether he would, if elected in November, support the project, known officially as the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent. The project has bipartisan support in Congress.

The announcement came just one day after President Donald Trump assailed Pentagon leaders as eager to fight wars to generate profits for defense contractors. Trump at times has lamented the enormous cost of maintaining a big nuclear arsenal, but his defense budgets have supported nuclear modernization.

Award of the contract to Northrop Grumman NOC, +1.45%   is a big step in a project that is estimated to eventually cost at least $85 billion. ……..

Critics, however, say the $13.3 billion sole-source contract for Northrop Grumman is driven more by political inertia than military necessity.

“Our nation faces major security challenges, including a global pandemic that has killed almost 200,000 Americans, and we shouldn’t spend our limited resources on new nuclear weapons that we don’t need and make us less safe,” said William J. Perry, who served as defense secretary in the Clinton administration and has written extensively since then on the dangers posed by nuclear weapons.

“The highest probability of starting a nuclear war is a mistaken launch caused by a false alarm and a rushed decision to launch nuclear-armed ICBMs,” Perry said in a written statement. “Instead of spending billions of dollars on new nuclear missiles we don’t need, we must focus on preventing accidental nuclear war.” https://www.marketwatch.com/story/air-force-awards-northrop-grumman-133-billion-contract-for-new-nuclear-missiles-2020-09-08