Biden plan to shelve Trump-era sea nuke comes under fire
By Joe Gould
Apr 1, 06:00 AM
WASHINGTON ― U.S. President Joe Biden’s plans to cancel the Sea-Launched Cruise Missile-Nuclear development program have emerged as an early dispute in a brewing fight over next year’s defense budget.
The administration’s proposed fiscal 2023 defense budget, unveiled this week, would zero out the program, in coordination with a forthcoming Nuclear Posture Review. That’s a win for progressive Democrats and non-proliferation advocates who have decried the nascent submarine-launched missile, among other nuclear weapons initiated by the Trump administration, as wasteful and escalatory.
But Republicans last year warned the Navy not to kill the SLCM-N. At a hearing Wednesday, the top Republican on the House Strategic Forces Subcommittee, Rep. Doug Lamborn, revived the pushback when he elicited support for developing the SLCM-N (and retaining the B83 gravity bomb) from the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Europe, Gen. Tod Wolters.
https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2022/04/01/biden-plan-to-shelve-trump-era-sea-nuke-comes-under-fire/
