Biden Plans to Cut Spending on Nuclear Weapons

The administration of US President-elect Joe Biden is planning to review its nuclear modernization program with the expectation of trimming funding for nuclear weapons and reducing their role in Pentagon strategy, the Wall Street Journal quoted former officials Thursday.

"The new administration is also likely to review the Pentagon’s decision to develop a new land-based intercontinental ballistic missile, which is estimated to cost more than $100 billion when its warhead is included," some former officials said.

“We have to modernize our deterrent,” said one former official. “But we cannot spend the amount of money that is currently being allocated.”

“Most of the systems that compose the Triad are operating well beyond their original design lives,” read a Pentagon fact sheet published in November. “They must be modernized or they will be lost.”