US Shouldn’t Pour More Money Into Missile Silos
Costs to replace the land-based ICBM fleet have skyrocketed. Congress should ask some hard questions before approving more funding.
Weakest leg.
Source: US Air Force/Getty Images
Ground-based intercontinental ballistic missiles are arguably the weakest leg of America’s so-called nuclear triad. Now, estimated costs to modernize the arsenal have ballooned more than 80% to $141 billion and counting. Congress needs to ask some serious questions before approving that spending.
Since 2017, legislators have mandated that the Pentagon deploy no fewer than 400 land-based ICBMs. And defense officials reasoned it would be cheaper to replace the aging Minuteman III fleet than to extend its life to 2075. Acquisition costs were projected at $77.7 billion in 2020 when the program to field a new ICBM, dubbed the LGM-35A Sentinel, was formally approved.