LASG articles providing general background

For more information see:
 • Plutonium pit production
 • Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility
 • NNSA Planning & Budgeting

 • Los Alamos to make plutonium cores ("pits") for new ICBM, Savannah River to make pits for new submarine missile warhead, press release, Apr 17, 2024
Sea-launched Cruise Missile
 • Huge increase in nuclear warhead funding approved for this year; more requested for next year, press release, Mar 12, 2024
 • Warhead plutonium modernization spending, actual & proposed by site, spreadsheet, May 6, 2022
 • Assuring Destruction Forever, 2022 edition, Reaching Critical Will, WILPF, Jan 2022
 • Update on US Nuclear Modernization for the International Disarmament Community, Mello & Williams-Mello, Jan 7, 2021
 • Plutonium Modernization costs, LASG chart, May 27, 2020
 • Update on US Nuclear Weapons Modernization for the International Disarmament Community, Greg Mello & Trish Williams-Mello, May 13, 2020
B61-13 bomb development
 • Assuring Destruction Forever, WILPF, Mello, et.al., Apr 2019
 • Update on US Nuclear Modernization for the International Disarmament Community, Greg Mello, Apr 9, 2018
 • Leaked Trump Nuclear Posture Review Aims to Continue Obama Weapons Modernization, with Significant Tweaks, press release, Jan 12, 2018
 • Modernized nuclear force is destabilizing, Mello, Albuquerque Journal, Feb 26, 2016
 • Assuring destruction forever: Nuclear Weapons Modernization, Reaching Critical Will, Apr 2015
   — United States - Modernization chapter, Mello & Williams-Mello, Apr 2015
See also: That Old Designing Fever, Greg Mello, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Jan/Feb 2000
    – for reference: Strategic Systems Update, Rear Adm. G. Peter Nanos, The Submarine Review, Apr 1997

Some miscellaneous writings on modernization by Theodore (Ted) Postol, Ph.D. (bio)
 • Letter to U.S. news media: U.S.-Russian strategic instability from U.S. Trident warhead upgrades (important analysis by Dr. Ted Postol), May 3, 2016
 • How the US Nuclear Weapons Modernization Program Is Increasing the Chances of Accidental Nuclear War with Russia, Postol, Harvard College Peace Action, Feb 25, 2016 (see also 1998 paper below for technical details)
    – audio file of Ted Postol's presentation
    – longer talk and more slides
 • The Dynamics of Possible Nuclear Extinction, Postol, video presentation at Helen Caldicott symposium, Feb 28, 2015
 • Near Miss, Postol, Boston Sunday Globe, Jan 25, 2015
 • How the Obama Administration Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, Postol, The Nation, Dec 29, 2014
 • The Capabilities of Trident against Russian Silo-Based Missiles: Implications for START III and Beyond, Lewis & Postol, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Feb 2, 1998
Peacekeeper missile test, showing MIRVed warheads

Related news media & documents
2024
 • US to build new ‘doomsday plane’, RT, Apr 27, 2024
 • Senators push to update nuclear military might in defense bill, Defense News, Apr 26, 2024
 • Major milestone reached for key weapons component, Sandia National Lab news release, Apr 23, 2024
Mark 21 Replacement Fuze for W87-0 warhead for deployment on the MMIII and eventually Sentinel ICBMs
 • Sea-launched cruise missile is NNSA unfunded priority; warhead other than W80-4 possible; Savannah River taking half of W93’s pits, Exchange Monitor, Apr 19, 2024
 • Tester Doubts Sentinel Will Meet Fielding Date of 2036, Exchange Monitor, Apr 12, 2024
 • The U.S. Navy's Columbia-Class Submarine Nightmare Is Just Getting Started, The National Interest, Apr 11, 2024 Columbia Class Submarine
 • Pentagon weighs options to lengthen life of legacy nuclear platforms as new programs face delays, Valerie Insinna, Breaking Defense, Apr 5, 2024
 • America's Nuclear Arsenal Could Be Approaching Its Weakest Point, Newsweek, Mar 29, 2024
 • UK to test new ‘Astraea’ nuclear warheads without detonation, Interesting Engineering, Mar 26, 2024
 • Cancer rate among Air Force missileers prompts questions, concerns, ABC News, Mar 26, 2024
 • Julia Gledhill and William Hartung: Failure as the Pentagon's Ultimate Success Story, , TomDispatch, Mar 26, 2024
 • LRSO Nuclear Missile’s Development Extended, Funding Deferred, Air & Space Forces Magazine, Mar 23, 2024
LRSO deployed from B-1 bomber
• While USSF Budget Dips, Funds for New Nuclear Command and Control Satellites Jump, Air & Space Forces Magazine, Mar 18, 2024
 • Air Force budgets $3.7 billion for Sentinel in fiscal 2025; Requirements changes possible in fiscal 2026, Exchange Monitor, Mar 15, 2024
 • 70 Percent or More of F-35s May Not Be Combat Capable, Mike Fredenburg, The Epoch Times, Mar 15, 2024
F35 fighter jet
 • America’s newest nuclear warhead will cost under $100M to produce, budget docs show, Aaron Mehta, Breaking Defense, Mar 12, 2024
 • Details of Russia’s nuclear modernization are inconsistent with warnings of vast nuclear expansion, Federation of American Scientists, Mar 11, 2024
 • Bracing for impact: America’s nuclear modernization takes a local toll, The Hill, Mar 7, 2024
 • Plutonium Pit 'panic' threatens America's nuclear ambitions, The Hill, with corrections and comments by Greg Mello, Mar 6, 2024
 • Skyrocketing cost of US nuclear missile program spurs reckoning, The Hill, Mar 5, 2024
 • US mulling MIRVs to counter China’s nuclear buildup, Asia Times, Mar 4, 2024
 • Nuclear weapons are expensive, but how much is too much?, The Hill, Mar 1, 2024
 • Return To ICBMs Armed With Multiple Warheads Suggested By STRATCOM Boss, The Warzone, Feb 29, 2024
W87 warhead MIRV
 • STRATCOM head embraces nuclear sea-launched cruise missile as modernization must, Exchange Monitor, Feb 29, 2024
 • STRATCOM Promises Senate No Gap in Ballistic Missile Submarine Coverage, USNI News, Feb 29, 2024
 • Trident missile test fails for second time in a row, BBC, Feb 21, 2024
 • The new B-52: How the Air Force is prepping to fly century-old bombers, DefenseNews, Feb 12, 2024 B52-H Stratofortress
 • “Critical” Overrun Of Sentinel ICBM Program Demands Government Transparency, Federation of American Scientists, Feb 2, 2024
 • America’s next-generation ICBM is over budget and under fire, Washington Examiner, Feb 1, 2024
 • Air Force to trim fat from ballooning Sentinel missile program, Exchange Monitor, Jan 26, 2024
 • Air Force’s Sentinel ICBM Program Is Struggling, Potentially Impacting Nuclear Deterrence, Forbes, Jan 25, 2024
 • Pentagon Industrial Strategy Asks Taxpayers to Pay for Permanent War Footing, Taxpayers for Common Sense, Jan 25, 2024
 • Three Dangerous Cold War Myths About Nuclear Policy, The National Interest, Jan 23, 2024
 • Think the Sentinel nuclear program is pricey? Try living without it, Defense News, Jan 23, 2024
 • America’s Ossified Nuclear Infrastructure Needs an Overhaul—Now, The Heritage Foundation, Jan 22, 2024
 • US nuclear missile upgrade in jeopardy – media, RT, Jan 19, 2024
 • Air Force’s next nuclear missile at risk after costs spike, Defense News, Jan 19, 2024
 • Los Alamos sees spate of radiological contamination episodes around plutonium facility, Exchange Monitor, Jan 18, 2024
 • A Nuclear Dyad? Arms Control Groups Call For an End to ICBMs, Warrior Maven, Jan 16, 2024
 • Mass production of B61-12, W88 Alt 370 at halfway point, Exchange Monitor, Jan 12, 2024
B61-12 at Sandia National Lab
 • No pre-holiday test flight for Sentinel, Exchange Monitor, Jan 5, 2024
 • NNSA reaches halfway mark for production of B61-12 and W88 warheads, Exchange Monitor, Jan 5, 2024

Related news media & documents
2023
 • A gigantic new ICBM will take U.S. nuclear missiles out of the Cold War-era but add 21st-century risks, Associated Press, Dec 10, 2023 Boeing's GBSD concept
 • Air Force general says Sentinel can be tipped with multiple warheads, Exchange Monitor, Dec 1, 2023
 • Dems want cost estimates Congress didn't ask for in nuke modernization report, Exchange Monitor, Nov 17, 2023
 • America's Strategic Posture: The Final Report of the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States, Oct 2023
 • Birthplace of the atomic bomb braces for its biggest mission since the top-secret Manhattan Project, Associated Press, Sep 23, 2023
 • Oppenheimer: The Real Plan for U.S. Nuclear Domination, Then and Now, Brian Becker, BreakThroughNews, Jul 27, 2023
 • CovertAction Bulletin: “The Past Is Not Past” – Oppenheimer and the U.S. Nuclear Program Today, Covert Action Magazine, Jul 26, 2023
 • In the Lab Oppenheimer Built, the U.S. Is Building Nuclear Bomb Cores Again, W.J. Hennigan, TIME, Jul 24, 2023
 • Sluggish plutonium-pit production tells allies and adversaries U.S. nuke modernization 'not important,' expert says, Exchange Monitor, May 26, 2023
 • US nuclear weapons modernization plan spurs cost questions, Associated Press, Apr 26, 2023. Also in: The Hill, U.S. News & World Report, Santa Fe New Mexican, Albuquerque Journal, The Washington Post, The Seattle Times, South Carolina Public Radio, NewsNation, CTV News, WSB Radio, National Post, The Independent (UK), & many others.
 • Shifting military requirements changed design of new ICBM pit; first unit delayed, Exchange Monitor, Feb 17, 2023
 • NNSA Does Not Have a Comprehensive Schedule or Cost Estimate for Pit Production Capability, GAO, Jan 2023
 • $10 Trillion for Nuclear War: Racing to the Nuclear Cliff, The Socialist Program with Brian Becker, Jan 10, 2023
 • US Nuclear Deterrent Jeopardized by Weak Infrastructure, NewsMax, Jan 5, 2023

2022
 • NNSA report calls for reform of management and ops contracts; says parents cos. of site management teams of little help, Exchange Monitor, Oct 28, 2022
 • Demand boom predicted for glove boxes in coming years, Exchange Monitor, Oct 7, 2022
 • Inside the $100 Billion Mission to Modernize America’s Aging Nuclear Missiles, Time, Sep 13, 2022
 • NNSA Evolving the Nuclear Security Enterprise, Sep 2022
 • Congress should ‘move forward’ with NNSA’s plan for plutonium pits, Armed Services chair says, Exchange Monitor, Jun 17, 2022
B61-13 with tail kit dropped from fighter jet
 • Nuclear agency plans five new plutonium buildings at Los Alamos lab, Santa Fe New Mexican, May 18, 2022
 • More money won’t buy more pits, NNSA administrator, Nuclear Weapons Council chair tell senators, Exchange Monitor, May 5, 2022
 • NNSA, Pentagon ‘sorting out’ pit needs; new pits are ‘a hedge,’ NNSA administrator says, Exchange Monitor, Apr 29, 2022
 • NNSA Seeks 60% Boost for Budget Line That Funds Pits; Eclipses Expected Increase For FY23, Defense Daily, Apr 1, 2022
 • The core debate: A multi-billion-dollar project to make plutonium cores... Searchlight New Mexico, Mar 23, 2022
     – With Russia at war in Ukraine, US ramps up nuclear-weapons mission at Los Alamos. Is it a 'real necessity'?, USA Today, Mar 23, 2022
     – Also published in the Alamogordo Daily News, Carlsbad Current Argus, Farmington Daily Times, Las Cruces Sun-News, Ruidoso News, Silver City Sun-News & The Paper - Albuquerque.
 • Biden Nominee to Lead Civilian Nuclear Weapons Office Gets His Hearing; Supports Review of Warhead Trigger Program, Defense Daily, Mar 22, 2022
 • The Huge Gap Between How Serious Nuclear War Is And How Seriously It’s Being Taken, caitlanjohnstone.com, Mar 16, 2022
 • Nuclear expert speaks on the dangers of war between the US and Russia, World Socialist Web Site, Mar 15, 2022
 • Indigenous pueblos, environmentalists fight back against Los Alamos intrusion onto sacred land, Liberation, Mar 10, 2022
 • STRATCOM head Gen. Chas Richard noted the government has whiffed on its plutonium pit production goal, Breaking Defense, Mar 8, 2022

2021
 • Senators eye NNSA plans for waste disposal as nuke modernization continues, Aiken Standard, Sep 23, 2021
 • NNSA Should Use Portfolio Management Leading Practices to Support Modernization Efforts, GAO, Jun 2021
 • US officials double down on push for nuclear modernization, Associated Press, Jun 25, 2021
 • Estimated Cost of US Nuclear Modernization Jumps During More Expensive Phase, Defense One, May 24, 2021
 • Projected Costs of U.S. Nuclear Forces, 2021 to 2030, Congressional Budget Office, May 24, 2021 Supplemental data; Underlying tables
 • Rep. Wilson, others urge Biden to invest in nuke modernization and pit production, Aiken Standard, Mar 25, 2021

2020
 • Nuclear Delivery Systems Sustainment & Modernization Overview, Hon Alan R. Shaffer, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition & Sustainment, Nuclear Deterrence Summit, Feb 13, 2020
 • NNSA Chief Details Uphill Slog to Nuclear Modernization, Air Force Magazine, Jan 16, 2020

2018
 • Concerns about aging plutonium drive need for new weapon cores, Physics Today, Jul 1, 2018

2016
 • NNSA Has a New Approach to Managing the B61-12 Life Extension, but a Constrained Schedule and Other Risks Remain, GAO, Feb 2016