November 1, 2017
The Congressional Budget Office yesterday reported that current plans to modernize the US nuclear arsenal could cost $1.2 trillion—up 20 percent from the widely cited 2014 report from the Center for Nonproliferation Studies, “Trillion Dollar Nuclear Triad.”
The New York Times notes that this figure could grow higher still, depending on the ambitions articulated in the forthcoming Nuclear Posture Review, set to be released before the end of 2017.
The 2014 CNS report was the first comprehensive cost assessment of the plan to build five strategic submarines, 72 strategic bombers, and 240 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). This represents more delivery vehicles than the combined nuclear forces of China, the United Kingdom, and France.
For more information about US modernization plans and the cost to the American public, contact:
Jeffrey Lewis
Director, East Asia Nonproliferation Program (EANP)
Monterey, CA ⋅ 831.647.6616 ⋅ [email protected]
Nikolai Sokov
Senior Fellow
Monterey, CA ⋅ 831.647.6577 ⋅ [email protected]
Miles Pomper
Senior Fellow
Washington DC ⋅ [email protected]
