Pentagon Seeks $104 Billion for Nuclear Weapons Programs

Requested 19.5 percent boost in annual ‘nuclear enterprise’ spending addresses increasing threats, aims to restart tests for first time in four decades by 2028.

An unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile launches during an operational test at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Santa Barbara, Calif., on Aug. 2, 2017. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Ian Dudley

The Pentagon is seeking to spend more than $104 billion on modernizing the nation’s nuclear arsenal in the coming year.

The War Department’s fiscal year 2027 spending request allocates $71.4 billion for upgrading its triad of weapons systems—submarines, bombers, and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs)—and the Department of Energy’s proposed annual budget earmarks $32.8 billion for weapons development.