Submarine Program to Cost $100 Billion

July 27, 2012 | Edited by Benjamin Loehrke and Leah Fae Cochran

$100 billion sub program - The Navy’s Ohio-class replacement submarine is expected to have an average cost of $7.5 billion each for 12 subs - with a total acquisition cost of $100 billion to $110 billion - according to new estimates from the Congressional Budget Office.

--On the horizon: "Under the 2013 shipbuilding plan, submarines would overtake surface combatants as the largest source of demand for shipbuilding funds over the next 20 years." (pdf) http://1.usa.gov/LV11Ql

Is it gold-plated? - The cost of the B-61 life extension program has more than doubled from original estimates. The most expensive bomb is now set to cost $10 billion. “If these cost overruns were in the private sector, heads would roll and the program would probably be canceled,” writes Hans Kristensen at FAS Strategic Security Blog.

--Kristensen also points out that these B-61 estimates do not include the costs of the B-61’s guided tailkit ($1.2 billion, up from $800 million) and the cost to equip the F-35 to carry the bomb ($340 million). http://bit.ly/MprS8z

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Speaking of spending - “A firm cost estimate on the Uranium Processing Facility — reported to be the largest construction project in Tennessee history — won't be available until September 2013, according to the project's federal director, but site readiness is expected begin within the next couple of months at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant,” writes Frank Munger at Knoxville News Sentinel.

--NNSA expects to the UPF to cost $4 billion to $6.5 billion. http://bit.ly/OSyhbs

Tweet - @jfleck: My wait for an on-budget nuke project continues. Today, cost to refurbish the B61 blossoms. http://bit.ly/N86l2H

BREAKING - Global Security Newswire asked Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) if he would consider reducing nuclear weapons spending in order to avoid budget sequestration. “The answer to the question is no,” replied Kyl, a long-time supporter of all things nuclear. http://bit.ly/MK3fZ1

A candidate abroad - GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney is traveling to abroad this week. Joel Rubin looks at Romney’s past foreign policy positions and asks how the candidate might say abroad. Full post at The Jewish Chronicle. http://bit.ly/QlSvvA

MOX-An energy company decided to pass on a proposal from PNNL to participate in a study using mixed oxide fuel (MOX) at a its Columbia Generating Station in Washington State. The Tri-City Herald has the story. http://bit.ly/MZ8dM0

A bad deal- Peaceful nuclear assistance can end up augmenting nuclear ambitions that the U.S. may not approve of, as was the case with Iran, points out Matthew Fuhrmann.

--Fuhrmann thinks that the U.S. should think more carefully about providing nuclear assistance. “Requiring customers to refrain from building indigenous uranium enrichment or plutonium reprocessing plants (these facilities can produce bomb-grade materials) after accumulating relevant knowledge through peaceful nuclear assistance would be a particularly fruitful policy. Washington has so far expressed little enthusiasm about applying this policy across the board.” Politics, Power, and Preventive Action, a Council on Foreign Relations blog, has the full post. http://huff.to/QcNF3C

Tweet - @rezamarashi: Both sound pretty dangerous to me: "Barak: Nuclear #Iran far more dangerous than preemptive Israeli strike" #Israel http://bit.ly/OqlW1N

Democratically sanctioned- The Iran sanctions have widespread and often-unpredicted effects that may be inimical to U.S. efforts to promote a democratic Iran, writes Dr. Jeffrey Toney in The Huffington Post. For example, Iranian professionals and students abroad have had problems getting published or accessing funds for tuition.

--”As the promotion of democracy coincides directly with a population's ability to freely access information and facilitate meaningful exchanges, policy makers must be careful that sanction legislation is not so broad or undefined that it becomes self-defeating and prohibits the very freedoms it serves to protect,” writes Toney.http://huff.to/QcNF3C

North Korea PR- Something is happening in North Korea, and it might be a PR campaign. The “Hermit Kingdom” has received a softer focus in the news through stories of Kim Jong-un, his wife, the sacking of a hard-line general, officials studying Chinese-style capitalism, women being allowed to wear pants, etc.

--”Before we allow ourselves to get too hopeful or amused, it is worth noting that North Korea remains uniquely repressive. Indeed, after seven months under Kim Jong Un, the entire country seems to have become even more of a prison than it was under his father, Kim Jong Il, not less,” writes Blaine Harden at Foreign Policy. http://bit.ly/N1Go63