A new Congressional Budget Office report says the implementation of plans to modernize and maintain U.S. nuclear forces as stated in the Nuclear Posture Review and the fiscal 2019 budget requests of the departments of Defense and Energy would cost $494B from 2019 through 2028.CBO said the figure reflects a 23 percent increase from its 2017 estimate – $400B – over the 10-year period.
The agency projects that approximately 39 percent, or $37B, of the $94B estimated increase would occur between 2019 and 2026, driven by new weapons and modernization programs and plans for nuclear command-and-control platforms.
Of the total projected costs, $432B would fund several programs including strategic nuclear delivery systems and weapons; tactical nuclear weapons and delivery platforms; DoD’s command, control, communications and early-warning tools; and DOE’s nuclear weapons laboratories and supporting initiatives.
CBO said the remaining $62B of the total estimated cost accounts for its projected additional costs based on historical cost growth.
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