WASHINGTON – A smaller U.S. nuclear arsenal focused on submarine
capability would save up to $20 billion annually and simultaneously
maintain America’s deterrence capacity, said defense researchers at the
CATO Institute Wednesday.
A triad of systems-bombers, land-based intercontinental ballistic
missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles-for nuclear missiles
delivery was required to counter the Soviet threat in the 1960s, said
Benjamin Friedman, defense and homeland security studies fellow at the
libertarian-leaning institute.
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As of 2013, the total inventory of American nuclear warheads is 7,700
out of the 17,325 total nuclear warheads in the world, according to data
published by The Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. The
Cato report mentioned a Stimson Center estimate that the defense
department spends $31 billion on nuclear forces, costs that would range
between $352-392 billion over the next decade, the report said.
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