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1 Projected Costs of U.S. Nuclear Forces, 2019 to 2028 1 (January 2019)

handle is hein.congrec/cbopcusn0001 and id is 1 raw text is: JANUARY 2019 Projected Costs of U.S. Nuclear Forces, 2019 to 2028 The Congressional Budget Office is required by law to project the 10-year costs of nuclear forces every two years. This report contains CBO's projections for the period from 2019 to 2028. * If carried out, the plans for nuclear forces delineated in the Department of Defense's (DoD's) and the Department of Energy's (DOE's) fiscal year 2019 budget requests would cost a total of $494 billion over the 2019-2028 period, for an average of just under $50 billion a year, CBO estimates. * The current 10-year total is 23 percent higher than CBO's 2017 estimate of the 10-year costs of nuclear forces, $400 billion over the 2017-2026 period. * About $51 billion (or 55 percent) of the $94 billion increase in that total arises because the 10-year period covered by the current estimate begins and ends two years later than the period covered by the 2017 estimate. Thus, the period now includes two later (and more expensive) years of development in nuclear modernization programs. Also, costs in those two later years reflect 10 years of economywide inflation relative to the two years that drop out of the previous 10-year projection; that factor (in the absence of any changes to programs) accounts for about one-fourth of the $51 billion increase. * About $37 billion (or 39 percent) of the $94 bil- lion increase is projected to occur from 2019 to 2026-the eight years included in both this esti- mate and the 2017 estimate. That increase stems mainly from new modernization programs and weapons and more concrete plans for nuclear command-and-control systems. Background Nuclear weapons have been an important component of U.S. national security since they were developed during World War II. During the Cold War, nuclear forces were central to U.S. defense policy, and a large arsenal was built. Since that time, nuclear forces have figured less prominently in defense policy than conventional forces have, and the United States has not built any new nuclear weapons or delivery systems for many years. The nation's current nuclear forces are reaching the end of their service life. Those forces consist of subma- rines that launch ballistic missiles (SSBNs), land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), long-range bomber aircraft, shorter-range tactical aircraft carrying bombs, and the nuclear warheads that those delivery systems carry. Over the next two decades, essentially all of those components of nuclear forces will have to be refurbished or replaced with new systems if the United States is to continue fielding those capabilities. 1. The remaining 6 percent of the $94 billion increase is in CBO's estimate of likely cost growth beyond budgeted amounts. Notes: Unless this report indicates otherwise, all of the years referred to are federal fiscal years, which run from October 1 to September 30 and are designated by the calendar year in which they end. Numbers in the text and tables may not add up to totals because of rounding. In this report, cost refers to budget authority, the amount that would need to be appropriated to imple- ment the Administration's plans.

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