WASHINGTON (AP) — The new Sentinel nuclear warhead program is 81% over budget and is now estimated to cost nearly $141 billion, but the Pentagon is moving forward with the program, saying that given the threats from China and Russia it does not have a choice.
The Northrop Grumman Sentinel program is the first major upgrade to the ground-based component of the nuclear triad in more than 60 years and will replace the aging Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile.
It involves not only building a new missile but the modernization of 450 silos across five states, their launch control centers, three nuclear missile bases and several other testing facilities.
The expansiveness of the program previously raised questions from government watchdogs as to whether the Pentagon could manage it all.
Military budget officials on Monday said when they set the program’s estimated costs their full knowledge of the modernization needed “was insufficient in hindsight to have a high-quality cost estimate,” Bill LaPlante, under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, told reporters on a call.
The high cost overrun triggered what is known as a Nunn-McCurdy breach, which occurs if the cost of developing a new program increases by 25% or more. By statute, the under secretary of defense for acquisition then must **undertake a rigorous review of the program to determine if it should continue; otherwise the program must be terminated. **
Very cool read! Can’t believe I’d never heard of that before. It’s amazing all the equipment it broke and how far away it was visible and how big the EMP was. Truly terrifying these things are all over the world.
It’s honestly kinda scary that there are people who are unaware of the severity a High Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse (HEMP) attack on the US poses. According to Homeland Security, Russia detonates a nuke 300 miles above sea level in the middle of North America and it wipes out the power grid for the entire continent. They estimate a year or more to replace the transformers and that the effects could kill as many as 90% of the American population in that time from total power loss and limited access to fresh water. His isnt from a YouTube influencer, this is from the Department of Homeland Security
Edit: I apologize for assuming you are from the US but even if younare not, you should still be knowledgeable of the threat because if it isn’t Russia, China or any country who detonates it, then there is still the threat of an equally threatening CME that we are over due for that could hit anywhere on the earth depending on where it flares on the sun.
Jeez, I’m going to have to learn more about this stuff.
I am in the US, more specifically between NYC and DC, so I always figured I wouldn’t have to worry much about nuclear war, as I’d probably be part of the first round getting vaporized. 😅
