FY2024 Defense Budget Request: Strategic Missile Programs
INSIGHTi
FY2024 Defense Budget Request: Strategic
Missile Programs
June 12, 2023
Introduction
For Fiscal Year (FY) 2024, the Department of Defense (DOD) has requested $7.3 billion for the
development and procurement of strategic missiles, here defined as nuclear-capable missiles with a range
exceeding 1,500 nautical miles and counted under the New START Treaty. The request is for strategic
missile funding in the Research, Development, Test & Evaluation (RDT&E) and Procurement
appropriations for FY2024.
Three broad programs account for over 98% of DOD’s FY 2024 strategic missile funding request: Navy’s
Trident II (D5) submarine launched ballistic missile (SLBM), including the D5 life extension (D5LE) and
second life extension (D5LE II); Air Force’s LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM),
previously called the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD); and Air Force’s Long Range Standoff
(LRSO) nuclear cruise missile (see Table 1). The remaining ~2% covers a variety of fuze modifications,
nuclear weapons support (including nuclear red teaming), and planning for long-term ICBM system
sustainment.
Congress may assess strategic missile acquisition strategies and schedules, program performance, missile
component costs, and projected Future Years Defense Program (FYDP) funding levels to determine
whether to provide authorization and appropriations at amounts less than, equal to, or more than those
requested by DOD.
Table 1. Selected FY 2023 – FY 2024 DOD Strategic Missile Funding
Millions of U.S. Dollars
FY 2023 Enacted
FY 2024 Requested
RDT&E
Procurement
RDT&E
Procurement
Trident II (D5)
312.5
1,404.6
321.6
1,610.0
(including D5LE and
D5LE-II)
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FY 2023 Enacted
FY 2024 Requested
RDT&E
Procurement
RDT&E
Procurement
LGM-35A Sentinel
3,614.3
2.8
3,746.9
544.0
(Ground Based
Strategic Deterrent)
Long-Range Standoff
928.9
51.9
911.4
66.8
Weapon (LRSO)
Source: Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptrol er) Program Acquisition Cost by Weapon System: United States
Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request; DOD Comptrol er budget materials; Congressional Record—
Senate for December 20, 2022.
Note: A portion of requested funds in fuze modernization, nuclear weapons support, and ICBM long range planning
support programs in Table I but also include funds for fielded missile systems, strategic bombers, and submarines.
Trident II (D5) SLBM
According to DOD, Navy’s goal is for D5 SLBMs
to remain effective “through the 2080s.” To
Figure 1. Trident II D5 SLBM
pursue this goal, Navy’s FY 2024 budget includes
several Procurement and RDT&E efforts.
Navy’s D5 life extension (D5LE) procurement
modifications aim to enable 14 Ohio-class
ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) to launch
D5’s through FY 2042. Life-extended D5 missiles
will also equip the first eight Columbia-class
SSBNs, which will begin succeeding Ohio-class
SSBNs in FY 2028. D5LE procurement funds are
to procure new guidance hardware, missile
electronics, systems equipment, rocket motors,
warhead components, nuclear safety electronics,
test equipment, and associated operating and
support costs.
Following acquisition program milestone
decisions to utilize Trident II missiles on
Columbia-class SSBNs, Navy began designing
the next generation of D5 missiles, referred to
currently as the Trident II D5 Life Extension
(D5LE2). Navy utilizes RDT&E funds to design
the missiles (with flight tests scheduled to begin
in FY 2033) and procurement funds to modify
subsystem components shared with D5LE
Source: Defense Visual Information Distribution Service
missiles. Navy plans to place D5LE2 missiles on
later Columbia-class SSBNs beginning in FY 2039.
LGM-35A Sentinel ICBM
According to DOD’s FY 2024 Program Acquisition Costs by Weapon System report, the Air Force’s
Sentinel program will replace the existing Minuteman III ICBM inventory with a capability that meets
existing and future requirements through 2075, with initial deployment currently expected beginning in
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FY 2029. For FY 2024, Air Force requested $4.3 billion in budget authority for Sentinel RDT&E and
Procurement.
Sentinel’s FY 2024 RDT&E efforts include aerospace vehicle equipment (AVE) and command and launch
(C&L) segments of the program, in addition to cybersecurity and data management, nuclear surety and
safety certification, operator training systems, and a range of testing equipment, support equipment,
transport equipment, and maintenance support equipment to enable ongoing test and evaluation events.
Sentinel RDT&E funds also cover modeling and simulation efforts that compare weapon system
performance against potential adversary capabilities in a range of realistic combat scenarios. Modeling
and simulation are also used to assess ICBM supply chains to ensure the defense industrial base can
support long-term Sentinel operation and sustainment. Sentinel RDT&E funding also supports
collaborative work between the prime contractor (Northrop Grumman) and various university affiliated
research centers (UARCs) and federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs).
The FY2024 Sentinel procurement request increases $541.2 million from FY2023 enacted levels to
provide the conversion of Minuteman III ICBM launch centers and test facilities for Sentinel usage, along
with the purchase of missile guidance computers and electronics, propulsion systems, on-board testing
equipment, and subsystem electronics. Air Force reports that acquiring this equipment from vendors can
take between 24 and 30 months.
Long Range Standoff Weapon (LRSO)
LRSO is Air Force’s effort to replace the Air Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM), initially deployed in
1982, with a capability that can deliver air-launched nuclear weapons that survive adversary air defenses
and attempts to jam navigation satellites.
Air Force’s FY 2024 budget justification for the LRSO cruise missile covers a variety of Procurement and
RDT&E efforts maturing missile sub-systems and logistics support systems, mission planning, and
preparations for formal developmental test and evaluation events. In addition, RDT&E funds provide for
collaboration with the Department of Energy (DOE) to ensure the LRSO systems fully integrate DOE’s
nuclear warhead design, the W80-4.
Like the Sentinel program, LRSO’s RDT&E funding is currently located in Budget Activity 5, indicating
the program has received Milestone B approval (“considered the official start of a program.”) Programs in
this phase utilize engineering design, modeling and simulation, developmental and early operational
testing to ensure real-world performance matches the operational requirements of combat. This phase also
involves evaluating supply chains that will need to provide system components over many decades,
assessing their resilience and responding to anticipated obsolescence in spare parts and components.
Procurement funding for LRSO provides “backbone infrastructure hardware and associated software.”
Since aspects of LRSO are governed by Special Access Program protections, details of these
procurements are classified.
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Author Information
Cameron M. Keys
Alexandra G. Neenan
Analyst in Defense Logistics and Resource Management
Analyst in U.S. Defense Infrastructure Policy
Policy
Disclaimer
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