Air Force Challenges Pentagon Cost Estimate of Next-Generation Nuclear Missiles
By Jon Harper
More work needs to be done before the Defense Department can accurately estimate the cost of modernizing the nation’s arsenal of intercontinental ballistic missiles, Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James said Sept. 7.
The Pentagon’s Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation Office recently projected that the ground-based strategic deterrent program, known as GBSD, would cost at least $85 billion in the coming decades, according to Bloomberg News. That number is $23 billion higher than the latest estimate put forth by the Air Force.
The large discrepancy was partly the result of differing methodology and assumptions about various facets of the program, James told reporters during a media roundtable at the Pentagon.
“The CAPE used one program and extrapolated forward. We used a variety of components of programs and extrapolated forward to build up our estimates,” she said. “We had certain assumptions about efficiencies in manufacturing, CAPE had different assumptions about efficiencies in manufacturing. And there was probably 15 other different assumptions as well.”
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