{"id":40524,"date":"2019-02-12T17:51:45","date_gmt":"2019-02-12T17:51:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2019\/02\/12\/us-should-update-nuclear-warheads-over-their-delivery-systems-says-dod-official\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:18:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:18:59","slug":"us-should-update-nuclear-warheads-over-their-delivery-systems-says-dod-official","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/smr\/nuclear-arsenal\/2019\/02\/12\/us-should-update-nuclear-warheads-over-their-delivery-systems-says-dod-official\/","title":{"rendered":"US should update nuclear warheads over their delivery systems, says DoD official"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 A top nuclear official at the U.S. Defense Department warned Tuesday that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/smr\/nuclear-arsenal\/\" target=_blank>future of the nuclear arsenal<\/a> has to come from innovations in the warheads, rather than the Pentagon\u2019s traditional focus on delivery systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Peter Fanta, deputy assistant secretary of defense for nuclear matters, said it\u2019s time for the Defense and Energy departments to work together to develop manufacturing and engineering expertise as well as capabilities to create flexible, updated nuclear warheads by the 2040s, or risk being unable to keep up with potential adversaries\u2019 technological developments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The problem, put simply: Current nuclear modernization plans are supposed to cover needs through 2092, but for those systems to be viable that long, there must be updates that allow for the integration of new technology. After all, potential adversaries are updating their defense capabilities with technologies such as artificial intelligence in ways that would have seemed the realm of science fiction just a decade ago, so trying to predict what they will have by 2040, let alone 2092, is impossible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, the U.S. can\u2019t update the physical infrastructure \u2014 the side of the silos into which the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2017\/08\/21\/boeing-northrop-move-forward-on-next-gen-icbm-program-lockheed-out\/\" target=\"_blank\">ground-based strategic deterrent<\/a> is going, or the size of the bomb bays on a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2018\/12\/07\/blink-and-youll-miss-it-the-b-21-bomber-accomplishes-another-big-review\/\" target=\"_blank\">B-21 bomber<\/a> \u2014 on an annual basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The solution, Fanta argued, is to look to the warheads themselves, rather than the delivery systems, as the flexible weapons which undergo constant updates.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/smr\/2018\/11\/02\/heres-when-all-of-americas-new-nuclear-warhead-designs-will-be-active-and-how-much-theyll-cost\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"216\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/lawrence-livermore-nnsa-facility.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Here\u2019s when all of America\u2019s new nuclear warhead designs will be active \u2014 and how much they\u2019ll cost<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">America will be spending a lot on nuclear weapons in the coming years. Here&#039;s what the Trump administration will get.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf a B-2 before could fly in and drop a gravity bomb, that bomb didn\u2019t have to be brilliant,\u201d Fanta said at the Nuclear Deterrence Summit. But with modern air and missile defense networks, \u201cwhere penetration may not be as assured, maybe we need to relook at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/space\/2018\/10\/01\/americas-newest-nuclear-gravity-bomb-completes-design-review\/\" target=_blank>gravity bombs<\/a> and how they are delivered.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s a fundamental change from how the nuclear arsenal traditionally worked, where updates for bombers or propulsion systems were given greater focus than warhead updates. And getting to that point will require a major change in how the Department of Defense looks at its relationship with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/outlook\/2018\/12\/10\/nnsa-administrator-strengthening-america-through-nuclear-security\/\" target=\"_blank\">National Nuclear Security Administration<\/a>, a semiautonomous agency within the Department of Energy, which is charged with the development and safekeeping of America\u2019s nuclear warheads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHow do we as DoD send a demand signal into DOE to say: \u2018This is what we need\u2019? We start looking at robustness, margin, penetrability, survivability, communications within weapons,\u201d as well as radiation and cyber-hardening as part of a regular design process, Fanta told the crowd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The answer? By looking at everything, constantly, as part of a spiral development phase. \u201cWe start looking at the internals of the weapons as well as the delivery systems. We start looking at the fuzing, the radiation cases, the aeroshells that wrap around them. We start looking at what we can do to make them hard by design, flexible by design and able to put them into a new system when we decide what that new system is,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/smr\/nuclear-triad\/2018\/02\/02\/the-us-could-be-getting-2-new-nuclear-capabilities-here-are-the-details\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"214\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/navytomhawk_Resize.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">The US could be getting 2 new nuclear capabilities. Here are the details.<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The Pentagon wants to put two new nuclear capabilities into the Navy. Here&#039;s what you need to know.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But that process has to be constant and able to happen without sending each warhead back to the Pantax plant in Texas for a total overhaul in response to a new threat, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking to Defense News after his speech, Fanta acknowledged this is a long-term challenge for the Pentagon, as the NNSA and Pentagon already have a plan underway to upgrade the existing warheads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019ve got 20 years of work laid out to just keep our current systems going, to prevent us from rusting to zero, to refresh what we have,\u201d Fanta said. \u201cWe can\u2019t drop what we\u2019re doing now and go completely to the future aspects because we have an aging population of warheads now that we need to replace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But \u201cif you don\u2019t think about it as you rebuild your design, engineering, manufacturing complex, if you don\u2019t think about what you might need in the future, you will never make the room for it as you build what you\u2019re rebuilding now,\u201d he added. \u201cFrankly, our delivery platforms don\u2019t come online until the \u201930s or \u201940s. You have to think about that advanced capability as you think about it now, so you put in the capability to adjust to future threats and adjust to future systems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the near-term, Fanta said, the DoD is satisfied with the strategy under NNSA to increase nuclear pit production, despite all involved agreeing pit production should have started sooner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He also indicated the DoD has no concerns about the ability to integrate the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/smr\/nuclear-arsenal\/2019\/01\/28\/trumps-new-nuclear-weapon-has-entered-production\/\" target=_blank>new W76-2 low-yield nuclear warhead<\/a> onto delivery systems, saying the execution would be quick, while declining to provide a timeline.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The nuclear warheads of the future need to be easily updated and modified, but to get there, work must start now, a top DoD expert says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":35821,"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":124,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,36,124,19,30],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3378],"class_list":["post-40524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-newsletters","category-nuclear-arsenal","category-pentagon","category-smr"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"FLZGXR3JTVG7JEVQMNN2VBIEXI","arc_canonical_url":"\/smr\/nuclear-arsenal\/2019\/02\/12\/us-should-update-nuclear-warheads-over-their-delivery-systems-says-dod-official\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>US should update nuclear warheads over their delivery systems, says DoD official - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The nuclear warheads of the future need to be easily updated and modified, but to get there, work must start now, a top DoD expert says.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US should update nuclear warheads over their delivery systems, says DoD official\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The nuclear warheads of the future need to be easily updated and modified, but to get there, work must start now, a top DoD expert says.\" 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