Repair Of Obsolete Defense Equipment, Joe Biden Appoints Raytheon To Develop New Cruise Missile

Joe Biden continues to upgrade US nuclear cruise missiles. (photo: Raytheon Technologies Corp.)

JAKARTA - Raytheon Technologies Corp., awarded a $2 billion contract to develop a new nuclear cruise missile, Thursday, July 1. This was the first major administrative move by US President Joe Biden to replace the United States' nuclear arsenal.

The Pentagon also said the Air Force plans to purchase as many as 1,000 Long-Range Standoff Guns to replace the Air-Launched Cruise Missile first fielded in 1982. These new weapons, if streamlined, will be carried on B-52 and B-21 bombers.

The Air Force contract shows that modernizing the nation's Cold War-era defense capacity to deliver nuclear weapons by air, land, and sea remains a top priority for the Pentagon under the Biden administration. The modernization was started by President Barack Obama and continued by President Donald Trump.

The cornerstones of the next generation of the so-called nuclear triad are the Navy's Columbia-class submarines, the Air Force's new ICBM known as the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrence, and a constantly upgraded nuclear command and control infrastructure.

Work on the new cruise missile will be carried out in Tucson, Arizona. The project is expected to be completed in early 2027. According to US Air Force sources, this will form the basis for production decisions later that year. The missile will be paired with a new W80-4 warhead being developed by the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.

In a recent review of the triad's long-term costs, the Congressional Budget Office estimated in May that if the project were carried out, the nuclear power plans of the Pentagon and Department of Energy would cost a total of $634 billion through 2030. The Air Force declined to release the development of their new cruise missile. and estimated procurement costs.

"This contract marks our next step in completing development, finalizing our manufacturing techniques, and proving the new missile meets its operational requirements", Air Force program manager Elizabeth Thorn said in a statement.