NEW YORK, January 20. /TASS/. The United States’ nuclear weapons are outdated, US senators Roger Wicker (Republican of Mississippi) and Debra Fischer (Republican of Nebraska) said in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal.
"America’s nuclear weapons are dangerously out of date. Our safety depends on funding and timely deployment of the Sentinel ICBM," the article’s title and subheading say.
According to the senators, critical updates to the US arsenal "are underfunded and behind schedule." "Congress and the White House must act quickly to solve these problems and prevent more from emerging," the lawmakers emphasized.
They point out that the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile is expected to replace "the nearly 60-year-old Minuteman III ICBM and its supporting infrastructure, both of which are almost obsolete." However, the Pentagon earlier notified the US Congress that "the program would·be over budget."
"We must hold the [Biden] administration accountable for its failures. But to make up for decades of neglect, our colleagues in Congress must also commit to restoring US industrial health," the senators stressed.
The article also points to Russia’s advantage, which "already commands the world’s largest nuclear force." "The Kremlin also boasts a 10-to-1 advantage over the US in shorter-range tactical nuclear weapons," the US lawmakers noted.
Reuters reported earlier that the replacement for the ground-based US nuclear arsenal had busted through its $95.8 bln budget due to the coronavirus pandemic and inflation. According to the Pentagon, the Sentinel missile will not be deployed until 2031.