{"id":135698,"date":"2020-02-21T16:21:40","date_gmt":"2020-02-21T16:21:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/02\/21\/the-navys-new-nuclear-cruise-missile-starts-getting-real-next-year\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:02:09","slug":"the-navys-new-nuclear-cruise-missile-starts-getting-real-next-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/home\/2020\/02\/21\/the-navys-new-nuclear-cruise-missile-starts-getting-real-next-year\/","title":{"rendered":"The US Navy\u2019s new nuclear cruise missile starts getting real next year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. \u2014 The Pentagon intends to create a program of record for a new nuclear-armed, submarine-launched cruise missile in its next budget request, with the goal of deploying the weapon in 7-10 years, according to a senior defense official.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking on condition of anonymity during a visit to Minot Air Force Base this week, the official noted that the department is going through an analysis of alternatives, or AOA, process for the weapon, which was first announced during the rollout of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/space\/2018\/02\/02\/the-us-could-be-getting-2-new-nuclear-capabilities-here-are-the-details\/\" target=\"_blank\">Nuclear Posture Review<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe requested $5 million in FY20, which Congress gave us. There\u2019s nothing in the \u201821 budget because we\u2019ll just continue to use the $5 million to do the AOA,\u201d the official explained. \u201cBut in FY22, I hope that you\u2019ll see a budget request that will begin the program of record for the sea-launched cruise missile.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou put these on submarines, the Russians won\u2019t know where they are,\u201d the official added. \u201cThey\u2019ll hate it. They\u2019ll absolutely hate it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As part of the Nuclear Posture Review, rolled out in early 2018, the Trump administration said it would seek two new nuclear capabilities: a low-yield warhead for the submarine-launched ballistic missile, and a sea-launched nuclear-capable cruise missile. The first goal is complete, with the warhead, known as the W76-2, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/smr\/nuclear-arsenal\/2020\/02\/04\/trumps-new-nuclear-weapon-has-been-deployed\/\" target=_blank>deployed for the first time<\/a> in late 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The official said the department is still sorting how much money the program might cost, but pointed to the estimated price tag for the Long Range Standoff Weapon \u2014 or LRSO, a new air-launched cruise missile \u2014 as a rough estimate. That weapon is projected to cost the Defense Department about $8 billion to $9 billion and a similar amount for the National Nuclear Security Administration, which is charged with developing the warhead, the official said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cDo you put it on a surface ship? Do you put it on a submarine? Do you use a new missile or an existing missile? How far does it have to travel? We\u2019re looking at all of this. And then you also have to look at the concept of operations. How you want them to operate? Do you store the weapons on the sub all the time, or do you bring them into port and bring them in a crisis?\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Strategically, adding the cruise missile would allow the nuclear-armed Navy to go from 12 ships to 20 or 30, which would be \u201chuge\u201d in changing the strategic calculus for China and Russia, the official noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The official emphasized that the weapon doesn\u2019t need to be a brand-new design, saying: \u201cIt doesn\u2019t have [to] be a big deal\u201d to design and procure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe SLCM [submarine-launched cruise missile] doesn\u2019t have to be a big deal. Could be the same warhead. We\u2019re going to look into that,\u201d the official added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A conventional Tomahawk weapon has a rough range of 1,250\u20132,500 kilometers, and the range on the new SLCM would likely be longer, as a nuclear warhead weighs less than a conventional payload. The Navy is already investing in its Next Generation Land Attack Weapon, which could provide a more updated system on which to base the SLCM. The warhead could be a modification of the W80-4, the warhead from NNSA that will be paired with the LRSO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Critics of the idea argue that another nuclear weapon adds little to the arsenal, while eating into a naval budget that is already under strain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cA new SLCM would be a costly hedge on a hedge,\u201d said Kingston Reif of the Arms Control Association. \u201cThe United States is already planning to invest scores of billions of dollars in the B-21 [bomber], LRSO and F-35A [fighter jet] to address the [area-access\/area denial] challenge. The Navy is unlikely to be pleased with the additional operational and financial burdens that would come with re-nuclearizing the surface or attack submarine fleet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Additionally, \u201carming attack submarines with nuclear SLCMs would also reduce the number of conventional Tomahawk SLCMs each submarine could carry,\u201d Reif said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Regardless of the details for the weapon, the official expects the Pentagon is 7-10 years away from deploying the new SLCM \u2014 and that\u2019s if Congress backs the plan. Democrats have raised objections to the Trump administration\u2019s plans for new nuclear weapons before, but ultimately did not block the W76-2 project from moving forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI don\u2019t know if Congress is going to make a big deal about it or not because there\u2019s really no money involved\u201d in fiscal 2021, the official said. \u201cBut it is a new weapon system, and unlike the W76-2, where you\u2019re replacing a large warhead for a small warhead, here you\u2019re actually introducing more deployed capabilities. But again, it\u2019s 7-10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When the Nuclear Posture Review was rolled out, officials emphasized that the SLCM <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/space\/2018\/02\/06\/will-the-us-trade-its-new-sub-launched-cruise-missile-for-russian-arms-treaty-compliance\/\" target=\"_blank\">could be used as a bargaining chip<\/a> in arms control negotiations with Russia. Despite a number of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/pentagon\/2020\/02\/21\/us-cant-continue-tolerating-russian-noncompliance-on-open-skies-esper-says\/\" target=\"_blank\">arms control agreements<\/a> being on the ropes, the official this week again argued that the SLCM could \u201cgive us some leverage to bring [Russia] back to the arms control table.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;They\u2019ll hate it. They\u2019ll absolutely hate it,&#8221; a defense official says of Russia&#8217;s reaction to a new sea-launched cruise missile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":44374,"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":29,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[29,116,15,86],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3302],"class_list":["post-135698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home","category-left-column","category-news","category-pentagon-congress"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"3DQKHVDYC5E53IIDNCPPLPPHWM","arc_canonical_url":"\/smr\/nuclear-arsenal\/2020\/02\/21\/the-navys-new-nuclear-cruise-missile-starts-getting-real-next-year\/","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>The US Navy\u2019s new nuclear cruise missile starts getting real next year - Military Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"&quot;They\u2019ll hate it. They\u2019ll absolutely hate it,&quot; a defense official says of Russia&#039;s reaction to a new sea-launched cruise missile.\" \/>\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=\"The US Navy\u2019s new nuclear cruise missile starts getting real next year\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&quot;They\u2019ll hate it. They\u2019ll absolutely hate it,&quot; a defense official says of Russia&#039;s reaction to a new sea-launched cruise missile.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/home\/2020\/02\/21\/the-navys-new-nuclear-cruise-missile-starts-getting-real-next-year\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Military Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-02-21T16:21:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T00:02:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Aaron Mehta\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Aaron Mehta\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t    \"@graph\": [\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Article\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/militarytimes\\\/home\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/21\\\/the-navys-new-nuclear-cruise-missile-starts-getting-real-next-year\\\/#article\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/militarytimes\\\/home\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/21\\\/the-navys-new-nuclear-cruise-missile-starts-getting-real-next-year\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"author\": {\n\t                \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/militarytimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"headline\": \"The US Navy\u2019s new nuclear cruise missile starts getting real next year\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2020-02-21T16:21:40+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-08T00:02:09+00:00\",\n\t            \"mainEntityOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/militarytimes\\\/home\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/21\\\/the-navys-new-nuclear-cruise-missile-starts-getting-real-next-year\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"wordCount\": 862,\n\t            \"commentCount\": 0,\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/militarytimes\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/militarytimes\\\/home\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/21\\\/the-navys-new-nuclear-cruise-missile-starts-getting-real-next-year\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/4254857.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"articleSection\": [\n\t                \"Home\",\n\t                \"Left Column\",\n\t                \"News\",\n\t                \"Pentagon &amp; 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