The Navy is completing a milestone decision on the nuclear sea-launched cruise missile in Fiscal Year 2026 with delivery expected in 2034, Vice Adm. Johnny Wolfe said Wednesday.
“We’ve already done an industry day” through its program office, the director of the Navy’s Strategic Systems Programs said before the House Armed Services Committee’s strategic forces subcommittee.
Wolfe listed the sea-launched cruise missile as one of his three top warfighting priorities.
In response to a question on the program’s effect on nuclear-powered attack submarines and in his prepared statement, Wolfe said: “Executing this program requires careful balancing of resources.”
“Part of what we’re trying to do [with U.S. Strategic Command and U.S. Indo-Pacific Command] is getting a concept of operations” to minimize the impact on the attack boats, he said in his oral testimony.
Wolfe has testified in the past that this missile provides the president a second-strike capability in case of a nuclear attack.
“Over the last year, the SLCM-N program has focused on understanding and determining the weapon system’s architectures,” he added in his prepared remarks. “SLCM-N development will span the missile 10 system, fire control, launcher system, platform integration and warhead system integration as well as development of applicable support equipment, telemetry and flight test hardware, ashore infrastructure, and training material. The program office has focused efforts on defining the system architecture that integrates these elements.”
The proposed $150 billion defense reconciliation bill includes $2 billion to develop the missile and an additional $400 million to develop the warhead.
Looking at replacing the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine force and extending the life of the Trident ballistic missile and warheads, Wolfe promised a seamless transition.
“With their advanced capabilities, the Columbia-class SSBN combined with its TRIDENT SWS, represent a generational leap forward in our undersea deterrent. With improvements in the SSBN platform come upgrades to the SWS as well – both the TRIDENT missile and its warhead,” he wrote in his testimony.
The General Accountability Office reported in late September that the lead ship in the class, District of Columbia, was running at least 16 months behind schedule.
“Through early 2024, those trends had not improved, and future risks will likely add to current cost and schedule growth. The program has reported that the shipbuilder needs to take swift and significant actions to address the causes of poor construction performance. However, as GAO has previously reported, the program has tried to mitigate some of these causes—such as late materials and detailed design products—for years,” GAO reported.
Wolfe said “our infrastructure [like the need for a skilled workforce] is at an inflection point.”
Expanding on that in prepared testimony, he added, “unlike [sea-launched ballistic missile] programs of the past, D5LE2 [TRIDENT II D5 Life Extension 2 ]does not have the benefit of a healthy industrial base that was historically built on simultaneously maintaining production and continuous development. Our modernization needs cannot succeed without investing in research and development, the critical skills in the workforce, and the facilities needed to produce, sustain, and certify our nuclear systems.”
Wolfe told the panel “we’re in a build-up of the workforce” for the Navy’s strategic programs.
Brandi Vann, the acting principal deputy assistant secretary of defense, noted that the increased collaboration among China, Russia and North Korea, all nuclear powers, at a time when there is no agreement on nuclear arms control has changed the security environment.
Current U.S. nuclear modernization efforts “may be insufficient” as the three continue to expand and diversify their weapons and delivery systems, she said.
“We don’t need to be scared; we need to be prepared,” Air Force Lt. Gen. Andrew Gebara, the deputy chief of staff strategic deterrence and nuclear integration, said.
