The War Department is seeking $71 billion to modernize the U.S. nuclear triad — encompassing air, land, and sea-based weapons systems — as part of the fiscal year 2027 budget proposal, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth told senators during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.
“[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 lawmakers.
Hegseth pointed to Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons as a key reason the U.S. must maintain its 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,” he said. “Our adversaries have to deal with that dilemma because of the strength of our nuclear triad.”
Within President 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, $6.1 billion is designated for the B-21 Raider, a dual-capable penetrating strike stealth bomber capable of delivering both conventional and nuclear munitions. First unveiled in 2023, the Air Force plans to procure a minimum of 100 B-21 aircraft. An additional $1.5 billion is included for the long-range standoff cruise missile, a replacement for the bomber-delivered AGM-86B air-launched cruise missile.
On the land-based side, $4.6 billion is allocated for the LGM-35 Sentinel, intended to modernize and replace the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile system with 400 operationally deployed missiles and 450 silos across the United States. The program includes infrastructure projects such as hardened silos and other facilities across five states.
For the sea-based leg of the triad, $16.2 billion is earmarked for the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine, which will replace the existing Ohio-class vessels. The budget includes procurement of the fourth submarine in the class and continued development funding for the third, the USS Groton, along with research, development, testing, and evaluation funding and investment in the submarine industrial base.
Hegseth also emphasized the broader importance of strengthening America’s defense industrial base, saying years of neglect had weakened it but that the department is now prioritizing its recovery. “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,” he told lawmakers.
By DNU staff