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The U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile has changed dramatically throughout the course of its existence. From a handful of nuclear weapons of relatively simple design throughout the second half of the 1940s to a peak number of 31,255 warheads in the 1970s, the variety and capabilities of warheads in the U.S.
Part of the current effort to maintain a viable U.S. nuclear deterrent is the development of a warhead dubbed the W93, the request for which was first introduced in the President’s 2021 budget request. The W93, along with its Mark 7 (Mk7) re-entry vehicle that holds the warhead, will replace W76 and W88 warheads found atop the Navy’s Trident II D5 submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) with a safer design.
Lt. Gen. Robert Ashley, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said Wednesday that Russia is likely conducting low-yield nuclear-weapons tests. That’s an indication that Russia doesn’t share the same understanding of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty that the U.S. does. In the United States’ understanding, the test-ban treaty prohibits any nuclear-weapons experiments that produce yield.
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and the defense appropriations bill function as Congress’s yearly shaping mechanism for the Department of Defense (DOD). Because it is one of the few authorization bills reliably passed every year, the NDAA assumes oversized importance for both Congress and the DOD. In an increasingly more threatening global security environment, where the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation are actively challenging U.S. interests, the NDAA gains even more importance.
62 Within a flat overall budget for the National Nuclear Security Administration, the Biden administration proposes to ramp up funding for plutonium production while paring back certain stockpile R&D activities, such as inertial confinement fusion. The Biden administration is proposing to hold the budget of the National Nuclear Security Administration steady at $19.7 billion for fiscal year 2022, following a string of increases that began during the Obama administration and accelerated under President Trump. Over the past five years, NNSA’s budget has increased by more than 50% overall, pri...