Cost of maintaining US nuclear arsenal will rise to $1.2 trillion over next 30 years, finds study
A review by the Congressional Budget Office found that the expenditure will peak to nearly $50 billion a year in the early 2030s.
It will cost more than $1.2 trillion (approximately Rs 77.50 lakh crore) to maintain the United States’ nuclear arsenal over the next 30 years, said a report released by the Congressional Budget Office. According to the study, the country will need more than $800 billion (around Rs 52 lakh crore) to operate and sustain its nuclear forces and about $400 billion (nearly Rs 26 lakh crore) to modernise them.
The budget office’s study is based on a review of the Barack Obama administration’s plans modernise the US’ nuclear arsenal. The Nuclear Posture Review ordered by President Donald Trump, which is under way, may recommend changing the plans and the size of the forces inherited from the previous government, the report said.
“Congress still doesn’t seem to have any answers as to how we will pay for this effort, or what the trade-offs with other national security efforts will be,” a member of the US House Armed Services Committee, Adam Smith, told Reuters.
Modernising the nuclear forces will push total costs up by roughly 50% over the estimate of only sustaining the field forces. The report also said that the expenditure will rise to $47 billion (around Rs 30.35 crore) in the next decade from $29 billion (Rs 18.17 crore), and will peak to $50 billion (Rs 32.29 crore) a year in the early 2030s.
