The New START nuclear pact’s demise could cost the Department of Defense as much as $439 billion for modernization, plus $28 billion in annual maintenance costs, the Congressional Budget Office said in a report published Tuesday. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Abbigayle Williams)
Defense News: US nuclear weapons budget could skyrocket if Russia treaty ends
WASHINGTON ― The New START nuclear pact’s demise could cost the Department of Defense as much as $439 billion for modernization, plus $28 billion in annual maintenance costs, the Congressional Budget Office said in a report published Tuesday.
That price estimate, as the United States and Russia remain at odds over the treaty, reflects a threefold increase in weapons production costs. With Washington and Moscow’s responses to the expiration of New START unclear, CBO explored several possible paths, including other less expensive options.
“If the New START treaty expired, the United States could choose to make no changes to its current plans for nuclear forces, in which case it would incur no additional costs,” the CBO study found. “If the United States chose to increase its forces in response to the expiration of the treaty, modest expansions could be relatively inexpensive and could be done quickly. Larger expansions could be quite costly, however, and could take several decades to accomplish.”
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Update #1: CBO: Letting nuclear treaty expire could cost billions (The Hill)
WNU Editor: Ending START will probably result in a new nuclear arms race. And if there is one thing that we learned in the last Cold War is that a nuclear arms race is incredibly expensive. Last year alone the U.S. spent over $35 billion on its nuclear arms stockpile .... The US accounted for nearly half of the $72.9 billion spent on nuclear weapons last year (CNN).
Update #2: The CBO report is here .... The Potential Costs of Expanding U.S. Strategic Nuclear Forces If the New START Treaty Expires (Congressional Budget Office).
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