The US Presidential Administration Donald Trump will request $ 20 billion for the modernization and maintenance of nuclear weapons in fiscal year 2021, which begins on October 1, 2020. This was reported by the American defense publication Defense News, citing the head of the US Senate Committee on the Armed Forces Jim Inhof.

Earlier, American media reported the possibility of allocating a smaller amount - $ 17.5 billion.

According to Inhof, the White House agreed to allocate more money, namely the $ 20 billion that the leadership of the National Nuclear Safety Administration had previously requested.

“The solution is this: I won, you lost. I think that the indicators we wanted to return to the budget, ”Inhof said after a conversation with US Secretary of Energy Dan Bruyett. “We need to start modernization and catch up with Russia.”

The US military budget for 2020 provided for the allocation of $ 16.5 billion to the National Nuclear Safety Administration.

This unit of the Ministry of Energy is responsible for maintaining and strengthening security and improving the effectiveness of the country's nuclear arsenal. If in 2021 the agency will be allocated $ 20 billion, this will mean an almost 20% increase in funding for programs to support the work and modernization of nuclear weapons.

Hardware wrestling

A week earlier, American media reported that the Trump administration launched a fight for the finances allocated for the modernization of nuclear forces.

At the end of last year, the head of the National Office for Nuclear Safety Lisa Gordon-Hagerty began campaigning in favor of increasing the budget for the modernization of nuclear weapons in fiscal year 2021 to $ 20 billion. However, the White House budget department opposed this idea.

Then, according to The Dispatch, an American publication, Gordon-Hagerty, referring to immediate supervisor Dan Bruyett, said that slowing down the financing of the nuclear weapons modernization program “poses a serious risk in terms of the country's ability to contain and threatens its superpower status” .

“Because of such significant reductions, our ability to provide safe, reliable, and effective nuclear deterrence is in question. With this level of funding, the National Nuclear Safety Administration will be forced to immediately and quantitatively and quantitatively reduce its arsenal, ”said Gordon-Hagerty.

This view was also supported in the US Senate. On January 16, 12 Republican senators, including Jim Inhofe, asked Trump to meet to discuss a possible slowdown in funding for nuclear programs.

Lawmakers have expressed concern that warhead production programs will be “irreversibly delayed” and that funds for future nuclear research will have to be reassigned to maintain the collapsing nuclear infrastructure across the country. Concern was also expressed in the lower house.

“Modernizing US nuclear forces is critical to our security. The pace of advancement of our opponents, including Russia and China, may result in overcoming the superiority and effectiveness of our nuclear deterrence facilities. President Trump made it clear that he was determined to provide the National Nuclear Safety Administration with full funding: $ 20 billion this year with sufficient allowances in subsequent years. There’s no need to discuss this issue, ”said Liz Cheney, an influential Republican Party congresswoman, daughter of former George W. Bush Vice President Jr. Cheney.

As an expert of the Center for Security Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences Konstantin Blokhin noted in an interview with RT, all the statements of American politicians about rivalry with Russia are supported by the mercantile interests of lobbyists of the US military-industrial complex.

“This is all done in order to strengthen the American economy and the military-industrial complex,” Blokhin emphasized. - In America, the military-industrial lobby is very influential. And everything is done in order to attract even more money in this area. Therefore, they are trying to play on the Russian and Chinese threats. ”

At the same time, the head of the Bureau of Military-Political Analysis Alexander Mikhailov noted in a conversation with RT that Russia overtook the United States, creating less sophisticated nuclear weapons for less money.

“Russia has really directed a lot of efforts towards the complete re-equipment of the nuclear triad. Therefore, the Americans have something to catch up with, ”Mikhailov said.

"Priority Number One"

The modernization of the US nuclear arsenal is highlighted among the priorities for the US Armed Forces in the 2017 US National Security Strategy. The U.S. Nuclear Potential Review, released in early 2018, emphasized the need to develop tactical nuclear weapons. In particular, it was planned to deploy low-power warheads on Trident II missiles in submarines in order to deter Russia.

According to American strategists, the existing warheads are supposedly too destructive, Moscow does not believe that the United States can use them in the event of a conflict in Europe. Therefore, warheads of lower power should provide more reliable containment of the Russian Federation.

  • B61 bomb, ready for loading on a plane
  • © af.mil

Another project is the program for creating the B-61-12 aerial bomb with adjustable blast power. However, in Russia they note that by “lowering” the capacity of their nuclear weapons, the United States also lowers the threshold for using nuclear weapons.

In January 2019, the Congressional Budget Office noted that according to existing plans, Washington would spend $ 494 billion on the maintenance and modernization of the strategic nuclear triad until 2028. Of these, $ 15 billion on tactical nuclear weapons.

According to Alexander Mikhailov, it is not completely clear "against whom the Americans are going to use developments in the field of reducing the power" of weapons, however, "any expansion of the range of nuclear munitions naturally leads to an expansion of arsenals."

In July 2019, during the approval of his candidacy in the Senate, the current head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Armed Forces, General Mark Milli, called the modernization of nuclear weapons "number one priority."

According to Konstantin Blokhin, US actions to launch a nuclear arms race "break the entire international security system."

“The United States withdraws from one treaty, then from another. All this is an indicator that we live in an extremely turbulent and unpredictable world, ”said the political scientist.

The START-3 treaty expires in 2021, which limits the size of Russian and American nuclear arsenals. In 2020, Moscow and Washington must decide to extend the agreement. However, although Russian President Vladimir Putin had previously called for a prolongation of the treaty, the US side does not demonstrate such a clear intention to maintain the cornerstone of a strategic arms control system.

According to Konstantin Blokhin, Russia, having relied on new technologies, will be able to ensure its own security without being drawn into an arms race with the United States.

“We have already answered them. Now we are leaders in the field of hypersonic weapons, ”says the political scientist.