https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-nuclear-missile-program-costs-soar-around-160-billion-sources-say-2024-07-05/
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By Mike Stone
July 5, 20245:46 PM EDT Updated 3 days ago
Northrop Grumman declined to comment. The Pentagon did not comment on the figure, but said it expects to give a new cost estimate around Tuesday.
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The new Sentinel cost estimate eclipses an increase to "at least" $131 billion that the Air Force made public in January.
That triggered the Nunn-McCurdy Act, a 1982 law that requires the Pentagon to formally justify to Congress the importance of a program whose unit acquisition costs have risen more than 25% above a baseline.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is expected to deliver that notification next week.
Though Air Force leaders argue that Sentinel is crucial for maintaining America's nuclear deterrent, the Pentagon asked industry to provide cost estimates on a service life extension program for the existing inventory of Minuteman III missiles, according to documents seen by Reuters.
