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U.S. Begins Trimming Nuclear Forces
The United States has begun dismantling its Peacekeeper ICBM force
and converting two Trident nuclear submarines to carry conventional
weapons in the first move toward reducing its deployed strategic
warheads to the 1,700-2,200 limit established by the U.S.-Russian
Strategic Offensive Reduction Treaty.
On October 1, crews at F. E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming began
dismantling the first of 50 Peacekeeper missiles, each capable of
delivering 10 independently targetable warheads at variable yields,
according to Jenna McMullin, spokeswoman with Air Force Space Command.
One-third of the force will be retired in each year of the three-year
dismantlement program at a total estimated cost of $400-500 million.
The deactivation and dismantlement of each missile will take about
17 days, McMullin noted. Warheads removed from the Peacekeepers
will be stored, and some are slated to replace older warheads on
Minuteman III missiles.
Meanwhile, the USS Ohio ceased its nuclear role on September 30
upon its return to Bangor Naval Submarine Base in Washington, The
Seattle Times reported October 1. The Ohio will head to Puget Sound
Naval Shipyard for a two-year conversion program slated to begin
in October 2003, according to U.S. Navy spokeswoman Elissa Smith.
The submarine is the first of four that will be refitted to carry
as many as 154 conventional Tomahawk or Tactical Tomahawk land-attack
missiles, bringing the U.S. nuclear ballistic missile submarine
fleet down to 14 boats. The newly fitted submarines are scheduled
to become operational in 2007 at a total estimated conversion cost
of $3.4 billion.
The reductions in land-based and submarine-launched nuclear forces
come after the Bush administration outlined its strategic plans
in the 2002 Nuclear Posture Review. By 2007, according to the review,
the United States will reduce the number of operationally deployed
warheads in its arsenal from around 5,900 to 3,800 by eliminating
the Peacekeeper ICBM platform and converting the four Tridents,
along with downloading some warheads from other ICBMs and bombers.
(See
ACT, January/February 2002.)
It is unclear which warheads the United States will subsequently
remove from operational deployment to meet the 2,200-warhead limit
by the strategic reductions treaty’s 2012 deadline, but after
the modifications to the U.S. force structure currently underway,
there are no plans to dismantle further delivery vehicles. According
to leaked portions of the nuclear posture review, after 2007 “no
additional strategic delivery platforms are scheduled to be eliminated
from strategic service.”
A September 24 Congressional Budget Office report on the financial
implications of the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty concluded
that retiring delivery platforms and warheads would save more money
than removing and storing warheads and keeping many delivery platforms,
as the Bush administration plans. “Removing or retiring delivery
platforms…offers the potential for significant savings”—around
$5.1 billion in savings by 2012, according to the report. Simply
removing and storing warheads while retaining the delivery platforms,
however, will cost an estimated $105 million in the next decade,
the report says.
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