Asia-Pacific

Obama wants $80B to modernize nuke weapons complex

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-05-14 09:20

WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama on Thursday sent Congress a request for 80 billion dollars to sustain and modernize the country's nuclear weapons complex over the next decade, the White House said.

The funding request is aimed at stockpile sustainment and infrastructure investments, as US nuclear weapons will undergo extensive life extension programs in the coming years to ensure the nuclear complex has the "essential capabilities to support a strong nuclear deterrent -- as well as arms control, non- proliferation, and counter-proliferation requirements."

Under the request, the administration asks for 7 billion in Fiscal Year 2011 for stockpile sustainment and infrastructure investments, a nearly 10-percent increase over 2010.

The request is included in a plan Obama submitted to the Congress on ways to maintain delivery platforms, sustain a safe, secure, and reliable nuclear weapons stockpile and modernize the nuclear weapons complex.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the funding was needed to "rebuild and sustain America's aging nuclear stockpile."

The proposal is likely to be embraced by Democrats and Republicans alike, as Senate Republicans have said more resources have to be committed to modernizing the nuclear weapons complex, so as to support a smaller nuclear arsenal under the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), reached by the Obama administration and the Russian government in April and sent to Congress for ratification earlier in the day.