{"id":35203,"date":"2025-03-27T18:31:25","date_gmt":"2025-03-27T18:31:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2025\/03\/27\/air-force-secretary-nominee-pledges-to-focus-on-nuclear-modernization\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:22:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:22:22","slug":"air-force-secretary-nominee-pledges-to-focus-on-nuclear-modernization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2025\/03\/27\/air-force-secretary-nominee-pledges-to-focus-on-nuclear-modernization\/","title":{"rendered":"Air Force secretary nominee pledges to focus on nuclear modernization"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The nominee to be the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2025\/01\/16\/trump-picks-intel-community-official-as-next-air-force-secretary\/\" target=\"_blank\">Department of the Air Force\u2019s next secretary<\/a> pledged on Thursday to focus on its nuclear modernization efforts and continue work to get its troubled intercontinental ballistic missile program back on track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In his testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Troy Meink, who previously served as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2025\/01\/17\/how-trumps-air-force-pick-could-elevate-space-priorities\/\" target=\"_blank\">deputy director of the National Reconnaissance Office<\/a>, also told lawmakers the department needs to act faster to innovate its weapon systems and streamline its acquisition systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Air Force is working on replacing its arsenal of about 450 50-year-old Minuteman III nuclear missiles \u2014 the land-based portion of the nation\u2019s nuclear triad \u2014 with a new Northrop Grumman-made ICBM <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/industry\/2024\/03\/28\/northrop-says-air-force-design-changes-drove-higher-sentinel-icbm-cost\/\" target=\"_blank\">called the LGM-35A Sentinel<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Sentinel\u2019s projected future costs increased dramatically from what Northrop and the Air Force originally expected, triggering a cost overrun process called a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2024\/07\/08\/pentagon-keeps-commitment-to-sentinel-nuclear-missile-as-costs-balloon\/\" target=\"_blank\">critical Nunn-McCurdy breach<\/a>. The Air Force launched a review of the program to find ways to bring its costs down, which concluded Sentinel is essential and cannot be canceled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meink told lawmakers that if confirmed, he planned to review the results of the Sentinel Nunn McCurdy breach study. He also intends to continue overseeing the B-21 Raider stealth bomber program, which will be a key portion of the nation\u2019s air-based segment of the nuclear triad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Michael Duffey, the administration\u2019s nominee for undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, called nuclear modernization the \u201cbackbone\u201d of the nation\u2019s strategic deterrent in Thursday\u2019s hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cEnsuring that we have a modern, capable nuclear enterprise that not only includes the B-21 \u2014 which is a successful acquisition program, by all accounts \u2014 but the Columbia-class submarine and the Sentinel nuclear ICBM are critical,\u201d Duffey said, referring to the U.S. Navy\u2019s next-generation nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He pledged to work with the National Nuclear Security Administration and lawmakers to ensure the nation keeps high-quality systems needed for the safe and secure use of nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, raised concerns that the Air Force won\u2019t have the budget necessary to carry out its conventional missions while also being on the hook to fund two simultaneous nuclear modernizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meink said the Air Force is now in a historically unique situation as it is conducting modernization programs across all of its core mission areas, including the nuclear upgrades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThose systems are pretty expensive,\u201d Meink said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If confirmed, Meink said, one of his first priorities will be to review all the service\u2019s modernization efforts and readiness needs and see what additional resources it might need to pay for those. Meink plans to come back to Congress with that information to further discuss what needs to be done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cotton also pressed Meink on the service\u2019s longstanding pilot shortage, which he said is now about 1,800 pilots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meink \u2014 who served in the Air Force as a KC-135 Stratotanker navigator \u2014 promised to look at how to fix that years-long problem. The solution is not just a matter of raising pilots\u2019 pay, he said, but looking for ways to improve their quality of service and ensure they get enough time flying the jets that are their passion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019ve got to make sure \u2014 not just with pilots, but across our highlight skilled areas within our workforce \u2014 that they have the opportunity to do what they\u2019ve been trained, what they love to do,\u201d Meink said. \u201cSince I was a navigator, we\u2019ve always struggled with maintaining pilot levels. It is much larger than just the funding.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Air Force Secretary nominee Troy Meink said he would review the report on the LGM-35A Sentinel that followed its severe cost projection overruns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":77153,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":7,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[7,160,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3412],"class_list":["post-35203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air","category-daily-news-roundup","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"5WZP5NFZ3RFAXIBSDQJAAEZXQQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-air-force\/2025\/03\/27\/air-force-secretary-nominee-pledges-to-focus-on-nuclear-modernization\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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