Smart Cuts to Nuclear Excess

On the radar: Rep. Kaptur on how to cut defense; The rest of Washington on how to cut defense; Fulfilling the Weekly Standard stereotype; Budget savings from bombers and subs; New START data release; The upcoming IAEA report on Iran; Navy and Air Force to merge missiles; and the last 9 megaton bomb.

October 24, 2011 | Edited by Benjamin Loehrke and Mary Kaszynski

Smart cuts to nuclear excess - “The challenge for Congress is to meet all of our national security objectives and maintain America’s role as a world leader without jeopardizing our fiscal position. It’s not an easy assignment...What cuts can be made that will not compromise our military posture and threaten our strategic interests?” writes Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) in Politico.

--On nuclear weapons, Rep. Kaptur writes, “The budget for nuclear weapons should be strictly scrutinized for excess capacity. One proposal from the Air War College estimated potential savings of $43 billion through fiscal year 2015.” http://owl.li/76XyN

Common targets - “Observers are eagerly awaiting the results of a strategic review that will guide decisions on where to reduce Pentagon spending. In the meantime, just about everyone else in Washington is offering their own ideas, with many suggesting that the current U.S. defense strategy — and possibly also some highly sought-after new weapons — won’t survive the planned cuts,” writes Charles Hoskinson of Politico.

--”Some common suggestions include a smaller Army, fewer aircraft carriers for the Navy, cuts to strategic nuclear arms, including Air Force bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles, and a Marine Corps with fewer amphibious and aviation capabilities,” writes Hoskinson. http://owl.li/76XAr

Welcome to Early Warning -Subscribe to our morning email or follow us on twitter.

Predictable - After the death of Gadhafi last week, Spencer Ackerman wrote a blog predicting “The Post-Gadhafi Jounalism You Will Read in the Next 72 Hours.” From the Weekly Standard, Ackerman predicted an article called “On to Damascus, Then Teheran.”

--Ackerman almost called it. The actual article skips the Syria part - “From Tripoli to Tehran” by Lee Smith in The Weekly Standard. http://owl.li/76XBW

Nuke budget savings - “As the Pentagon searches for hundreds of billions in budget reductions, can the United States afford to spend in excess of $400 billion on new nuclear weapons over the next decades? No, it can't.” write Tom Collina and Kelsey Davenport in Defense News. Reducing the buy of the new nuclear sub and delaying the purchase of the new strategic bomber would save billions, while sustaining a force at New START levels. http://owl.li/76XDs

New START data - The U.S. and Russia released data on New START for September 2011. Russia had 516 operationally deployed strategic launchers (of 871 total) with 1566 deployed warheads. The U.S. had 822 deployed launchers (of 1043 total) and 1790 warheads.

--”Comparison with the February 2011 numbers - 865/521 launchers and 1537 warheads - shows that while the number of deployed launchers is now smaller, the number of operationally deployed warheads increased - Russia added 29 operationally deployed warheads (and is now above the New START limit of 1550 such warheads),” notes Pavel Podvig. http://owl.li/76XGd

Moscow: hold off on Iran report - Russia and China urged the IAEA to give Iran the “chance and time” to review and respond to a new report on Iran’s nuclear program before its release next month. Russia fears the report, which is expected to elaborate on the military dimension’s of Iran’s program, may hinder Moscow’s latest diplomatic initiative with Iran.

--ACA’s Peter Crail says it’s a moot point: "Given the lukewarm response the proposal received from Tehran, I don't think there is anything that the IAEA report is likely to jeopardize on that front." Fredrik Dahl for Reuters. http://owl.li/76XIl

The next missile - As defense budgets decline, the Navy and Air Force are looking to cut costs by collaborating on designing a new ballistic missile. “We’re not waiting around for aging to overtake us,” Rear Adm. Terry Benedict said. A common fuse for the Minuteman’s W78 warhead and the Trident’s W88, common guidance systems R&D, and common propulsion R&D are just some of the combined efforts that will generate savings. http://owl.li/76XKM

Dismantling the last monster - The last U.S. B-53 nuclear bomb is slated for dismantlement tomorrow at Pantex. The 10,000 lb bomb provided 9 megatons - more than 500 times the size of the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. “It’s the end of the era of monster weapons,” said Hans Kristensen of FAS.

--”It was one heck of a whopper,” said Kristensen. “Were one to drop on the White House, a nine-megaton yield would destroy all life out into suburban Maryland and Virginia,” writes Danger Room. http://owl.li/76XMo