War Department's $1.5 Trillion Budget Proposal Includes Sizable Nuclear Triad Investments

The War Department aims to modernize the U.S. nuclear triad - including air, land and sea weapons - and the fiscal year 2027 budget proposal includes ample investment to make that happen, said Secretary of War Pete Hegseth during testimony on Capitol Hill today.

"[This budget] invests in it - $71 billion in our nuclear triad and [nuclear command, control and communications], understanding that if you get that wrong, you get everything else wrong," Hegseth told senators during the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

The secretary pointed to Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons as an example of why the U.S. has a nuclear deterrent and why it must maintain that strategic deterrent capability.

"Imagine what the situation in the region would look like if Iran also wielded a nuclear weapon - and the limits it would put on our capabilities in those situations," Hegseth said. "Our adversaries have to deal with that dilemma because of the strength of our nuclear triad - so that $71 billion investment, the [direct reporting program managers] that have been put over top of it to move those systems left ... it's just been a priority since we came into the building, and we're funding it accordingly."

Within President Donald J. Trump's FY27 budget request, $71.4 billion is allocated to modernizing all three legs of the U.S. nuclear capability.

In the air domain, there's $6.1 billion for the B-21 Raider, a dual-capable penetrating strike stealth bomber, that can deliver both conventional and nuclear munitions. The Raider was first unveiled in 2023 and is planned as a central component of the nuclear triad's air leg. A top priority for the department, the Air Force plans to procure a minimum of 100 B-21 aircraft.

The FY27 budget also includes $4.6 billion for the LGM-35 Sentinel, intended to modernize and replace the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile weapons system with 400 operationally deployed missiles and 450 silos across the U.S. The Sentinel program includes infrastructure projects, such as hardened silos and other facilities, across five states.

Around $1.5 billion is included for the long-range standoff cruise missile, a replacement for the bomber-delivered AGM-86B air-launched cruise missile.

And for the sea-based leg of the triad, there is $16.2 billion for the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine. The Columbia-class is currently in production and will replace the existing Ohio-class vessels. The president's budget includes the procurement of the fourth submarine in this class and additional funding for the continued development of the third submarine in the class, the USS Groton. There is also funding here for research, development, test and evaluation, as well as for investment in the industrial base that builds the Columbia-class submarine.

Enhancements to the industrial base are not limited to just those private sector companies that build submarines. Hegseth said the War Department is very interested in strengthening the entire industrial base, because the ability of America's private sector to quickly provide the most advanced weapons, munitions and other material to the department is critical to national security.

"A nation's ability to build, to innovate and to support critical needs of its warfighters at speed and at scale is the foundation upon which its deterrence and survival rests," Hegseth told lawmakers.

For years, the secretary said, the defense industrial base had been neglected. But that has changed.

"Under the leadership of President Trump, our builder in chief, we are reversing this systemic decay and putting our defense industrial base back on a wartime footing," he said.