The United States must not only maintain, but modernize, its air, land and sea-based nuclear arsenal as opposed to reducing its strategic options, according to a key senator.
Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) said on Wednesday the U.S. nuclear arsenal is the “bedrock of our defensive strategy” and requires ongoing investment.
“The world is getting more dangerous, not less dangerous, and we must not only continue to maintain, but continue to modernize our nuclear forces to respond to threats today, and in the foreseeable future,” Hoeven said at a Peter Huessy congressional breakfast series event on Capitol Hill. “It is impossible to know what future Russian leaders would do with a potent, modernized strategic force.”
Hoeven, who is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, also said it is important to modernize the U.S. nuclear arsenal because it is unclear whether other countries would be deterred by a reduced U.S. nuclear force, which is called for in the Pentagon’s strategic review unveiled last year (Defense Daily, Jan. 6, 2012).
“We don’t know if our current forces deter Chinese behavior, let alone whether China would be deterred by a smaller U.S. force,” Hoeven said. “We must also consider smaller nuclear powers like Pakistan, North Korea and, unfortunately, Iran.”
The U.S. air, land and sea-based nuclear arsenal, known as the nuclear triad, is under scrutiny as the Cold War-era weapons age and defense budgets tighten. U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) chief Air Force Gen. Robert Kehler in July defended plans to build 12 SSBN(X) ballistic-missile submarines. Lawmakers and Pentagon officials are keeping a close eye on the cost of the Ohio-class submarine replacement program, which is just beginning in the research stages but is expected to dominate shipbuilding spending in the 2020s (Defense Daily, Sept. 20).
The nuclear triad includes 450 land-based Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), strategic missiles deliverable by 85 active B-52s and 20 B-2 bombers and 14 Navy Ohio-class submarines. North Dakota hosts Minuteman IIIs at Minot AFB and Grand Forks AFB. Wyoming and Montana also host Minuteman IIIs.
Some have advocated eliminating the land-based leg of the triad, but Hoeven advocated to keep it, arguing Minuteman IIIs are the cheapest leg and that an “increasingly complicated array of threats” requires the United States to leverage the advantage all three legs provide. For example, land-based ICBMs have accuracy and prompt responsiveness needed to attack hardened targets. Sea-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) have the survivability to withstand a first attack and can retaliate if such an attack were attempted due to unpredictability. Bombers could be dispersed quickly while also being recalled if a crisis did not escalate into conflict.