Supply Chain Disruption, Design Delays, Cost Overruns Cloud US ‘Nuclear Triad’ Upgrades: Pentagon Officials

The U.S. Air Force's new B-21 Raider at the 2023 Air and Space Forces Warfare Symposium in Aurora, Colo., on March 7, 2023. Courtesy of U.S. Air Force

President Joe Biden’s $863 billion fiscal year 2024 (FY24) defense budget request includes $23.8 billion for the U.S. Department of Energy to produce nuclear weapons and manage the nation’s strategic stockpile and $37.7 billion for the Pentagon to operate its “nuclear enterprise.”

That “nuclear enterprise” is the United States’ land-air-sea “triad” strategic force posture—intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), strategic bombers, and “boomer” submarines armed with submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs).