JANUARY 2015

Projected Costs of
U.S. Nuclear Forces, 2015 to 2024

Nuclear weapons have been a cornerstone of U.S. national
security since they were developed during World War II.
During the Cold War, nuclear forces were central to U.S.
defense policy, resulting in the buildup of a large arsenal.
Since that time, they have figured less prominently than
conventional forces, and the United States has not built
any new nuclear weapons or delivery systems for many
years.
The current strategic nuclear forces—consisting of submarines that launch ballistic missiles (SSBNs), land-based
intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), long-range
bombers, and the nuclear weapons they carry—are reaching the end of their service lifetimes. Over the next two
decades, the Congress will need to make decisions about
the extent to which essentially all of the U.S. nuclear
delivery systems and weapons will be modernized or
replaced with new systems.
To help the Congress make those decisions, the
National Defense Authorization Act of 2013 (Public Law
112-239) required the Congressional Budget Office
(CBO) to estimate the 10-year costs of the Administration’s plans to operate, maintain, and modernize U.S.
nuclear forces. In response, CBO published Projected
Costs of U.S. Nuclear Forces, 2014 to 2023.1 The National
Defense Authorization Act of 2015 (P.L. 113-291)
requires CBO to periodically update its estimate of the
1. Congressional Budget Office, Projected Costs of U.S. Nuclear
Forces, 2014 to 2023 (December 2013), www.cbo.gov/
publication/44968.

cost of nuclear forces. This report constitutes the first
such update.
CBO estimates that over the 2015–2024 period, the
Administration’s plans for nuclear forces would cost
$348 billion, an average of about $35 billion a year, and
an amount that is close to CBO’s December 2013 estimate of $355 billion for the 2014–2023 period. (Both
estimates are given in nominal dollars; that is, they
include the effects of inflation.) Although the two estimates of total costs are similar, projected costs for nuclear
programs of both the Department of Defense (DoD)
and the Department of Energy (DOE) have changed.
Over the next 10 years, CBO estimates, DoD’s costs
would total $227 billion, which is about $6 billion (or
3 percent) more than the 10-year estimate published in
2013, and DOE’s would total $121 billion, which is
about $13 billion (or 9 percent) less than CBO’s 2013
estimate.
This report describes the major differences between the
two sets of estimates. The cost projections have risen for
some categories of expenses but have declined for others.
One might expect the total to increase because the current estimate spans a 10-year period that begins and ends
one year later than the estimate published in December
2013 (2015–2024, compared with 2014–2023 for the
December 2013 estimate) and thus includes one later
year of development in modernization programs (development costs typically increase, or ramp up, as a program
proceeds). Nevertheless, budget-driven delays in several
programs, including a three-year delay for the new cruise

Note: Numbers in the text and tables may not add up to totals because of rounding.

CBO

 2

PROJECTED COSTS OF U.S. NUCLEAR FORCES, 2015 TO 2024

missile and its nuclear warhead and longer delays in some
programs for extending the useful lives of nuclear warheads, have reduced the costs projected for the next decade.

Basis of CBO’s Updated Estimates
CBO’s estimate includes the cost to field, operate, maintain, and modernize U.S. nuclear forces. This update was
prepared using the same approach as the original estimate; it considers only those costs that CBO has identified as directly associated with the nuclear mission and
projected over the 10-year period from 2015 to 2024.
Unlike estimates by some other observers, CBO’s estimate does not include a prorated share of the services’
and DoD’s overhead and support costs that are not
specific to the nuclear mission.
For this update, CBO analyzed the 2015 budgets for
DoD and DOE and their associated justification documents. (CBO’s December 2013 estimate, covering the
2014–2023 period, was based on its analysis of the 2014
budgets and associated documents.) To produce 10-year
estimates, CBO identified the budget lines that are relevant to nuclear forces and, by examining the long-range
plans for each program, projected each one beyond the
five-year window in the departments’ documents. CBO
estimated the costs for replacement systems that are
expected to begin development within the 2015–2024
period but that are not yet fully reflected in the departments’ budgets (specifically, the Long-Range Strike
Bomber and the new cruise missile) by reviewing actual
costs for analogous systems that have already been built
and the schedules that would be required to maintain
inventories as currently planned. Many of CBO’s projections also drew on its analyses for other reports.2 CBO
used the planned 2019 levels of operation and maintenance activities and number of military personnel to
project costs for subsequent years. In keeping with DoD’s
historical experience, CBO projects that costs for both
categories will grow somewhat faster than inflation.

CBO

JANUARY 2015

below those planned by the Administration and projected
in this report for 2016 through 2021 (the final year,
under current law, in which caps are imposed on discretionary spending). CBO’s estimate does not account for
such differences. It also does not include any changes to
the plans for nuclear forces that would result from initiatives that the Secretary of Defense announced in November 2014 to address issues raised in an independent
review of DoD’s nuclear enterprise.3 Detailed budgets for
those initiatives will not be available until the Administration submits its budget proposals for fiscal year 2016.
CBO has projected DoD’s and DOE’s budgets in four
broad categories:
 DoD’s budgets for strategic systems (the three types of
systems that can deliver long-range nuclear weapons—
SSBNs, ICBMs, and long-range bombers) and DOE’s
budgets for activities related to specific warheads used
for strategic systems and for nuclear reactors that
power SSBNs;
 DoD’s budgets for tactical aircraft that can carry
nuclear weapons over shorter ranges and DOE’s
budgets for activities related to the warheads they
carry;
 Budgets for activities at DOE’s nuclear weapons
laboratories that are not attributed directly to a
specific warhead type but that are related to
maintaining current and future stockpiles of
weapons; and
 Budgets for DoD’s command, control,
communications, and early-warning systems that
allow operators to communicate with nuclear forces,
issue commands that control their use, and detect or
rule out incoming attacks.

To comply with funding caps enacted in the Budget
Control Act of 2011 (as modified by subsequent legislation), lawmakers may need to set funding at amounts

Those program-by-program estimates reflect the assumption that DoD’s and DOE’s plans would be executed
successfully and on budget—that is, the estimates do not
incorporate any cost growth beyond the funding levels
planned by DoD or DOE. However, because programs

2. Some cost projections, particularly for research and development
and procurement, drew on analyses undertaken for Congressional
Budget Office, Long-Term Implications of the 2015 Future Years
Defense Program (November 2014), www.cbo.gov/publication/
49483.

3. Chuck Hagel and Bob Work, “Reforms to the Nuclear Enterprise”
(Department of Defense press briefing, November 14, 2014),
http://go.usa.gov/tGWF; and Department of Defense,
Independent Review of the Department of Defense Nuclear Enterprise
(June 2014) http://go.usa.gov/tG8C (PDF, 2.7 MB).

 JANUARY 2015

PROJECTED COSTS OF U.S. NUCLEAR FORCES, 2015 TO 2024

often cost more than originally planned, CBO has also
estimated cost growth beyond the projected budgeted
amounts in the aggregate for the four cost categories, on
the basis of historical experience with DoD’s and DOE’s
programs.4

projections have increased in some areas but have
declined in others. In particular, CBO estimates that
DoD’s costs would total $227 billion, $6 billion more
than it estimated in 2013, and DOE’s costs would total
$121 billion, about $13 billion less than it estimated in
2013.

CBO’s Projections of the Costs of
U.S. Nuclear Forces, 2015–2024

The costs CBO projects for DoD have risen because the
projections cover a 10-year period that starts and ends
one year later than the 2013 estimate. New programs
thus are one year further along in the process of ramping
up development, and some are entering production.
(Thus, the estimate does not necessarily signal an increase
in the programs’ total lifetime costs.) That higher cost
projection also reflects a change in the plans for modernizing the Minuteman III ICBMs. Those added costs
would be partially offset by decreases in some support
costs realized from DoD’s plans to reduce headquarters
staffing as part of a departmentwide effort to lower costs
for command and control. A change in the plans for
nuclear-related communications satellites also is expected
to reduce 10-year costs.

Over the 2015–2024 period, the Administration’s plans
for nuclear forces would cost $348 billion, CBO estimates (see Table 1). Of that total, CBO projects that
$299 billion would be budgeted by DoD and DOE as
follows:
 $160 billion for strategic nuclear delivery systems and
weapons;
 $8 billion for tactical nuclear delivery systems and
weapons;
 $79 billion for nuclear weapons laboratories and their
supporting activities; and
 $52 billion for nuclear-related command, control,
communications, and early-warning systems.

The remaining $49 billion represents CBO’s estimate of
additional costs that would be incurred over the coming
decade if the growth rates for the nuclear program’s costs
are similar to the average growth rates for similar programs in the past.
CBO estimates that the costs of nuclear forces represent
roughly 5 percent to 6 percent of the total costs of the
Administration’s plans for national defense for the next
10 years.
The estimate of $348 billion for total costs of nuclear
forces for the 2015–2024 period is just $7 billion less
than CBO’s December 2013 estimate of $355 billion
for the 2014–2023 period. Although the two estimates
are close, notable changes have occurred in both
departments’ nuclear programs, with the result that cost
4. For more detail on the nuclear programs and CBO’s approach
to estimating costs, see Congressional Budget Office, Projected
Costs of U.S. Nuclear Forces, 2014 to 2023 (December 2013),
www.cbo.gov/publication/44968.

3

The decrease in projected costs for DOE is primarily
the result of its plans to postpone or reduce the scope of
some weapon modernization programs and infrastructure
construction projects. Some of those costs could still be
incurred, but only after the end of the current 10-year
projection period. Increased costs for some support activities are expected to partially offset the decrease in DOE’s
modernization costs.
In addition to the costs directly attributable to fielding
nuclear forces, some published estimates of the cost of
nuclear weapons account for the costs of several related
activities. They may include, for example, the costs of
addressing the nuclear legacy of the Cold War (including
the costs to dismantle retired nuclear weapons and clean
up environmental contamination from past activities at
nuclear facilities); the costs of reducing the threat from
other countries’ nuclear weapons (including U.S. efforts
to halt proliferation, comply with arms control treaties,
and verify other countries’ compliance with treaties);
and the costs of developing and maintaining active
defenses against nuclear weapons from other countries,
primarily against ballistic missiles. CBO’s estimate of
those costs, published in 2013, has not been updated,
and those costs are not addressed in this report.

CBO

 4

PROJECTED COSTS OF U.S. NUCLEAR FORCES, 2015 TO 2024

JANUARY 2015

Table 1.

Projected Costs of U.S. Nuclear Forces, by Department and Function
Billions of Dollars
Total,
2015–2024
DOE

DoD

2015
DOE

Total

DoD

5.5
1.3
2.0
1.0
___

1.0
0.2
0.5
n.a.
___

6.4
1.5
2.5
1.0
___

75
24
32
11
___

8
3
7
n.a.
___

83
26
40
11
___

9.8

1.7

11.4

142

18

160

Tactical delivery systems and weapons

0.4

0.4

0.7

4

3

8

Nuclear weapons laboratories and supporting activities
Stockpile services
Facilities and infrastructure
Other stewardship and support activitiesc

n.a.
n.a.
n.a.

1.1
2.1
3.4
___

1.1
2.1
3.4
___

n.a.
n.a.
n.a.

15
28
37
___

15
28
37
___

n.a.

6.5

6.5

n.a.

79

79

10.1

8.5

18.7

146

101

247

1.2
2.1
1.9
___

n.a.
n.a.
n.a.

1.2
2.1
1.9
___

12
20
19
___

n.a.
n.a.
n.a.

12
20
19
___

5.2

n.a.

5.2

52

n.a.

52

15.4

8.5

23.9

198

101

299

n.a.
____
15.4

n.a.
____
8.5

n.a.
____
23.9

28
____
227

21
____
121

49
____
348

Category

CBO's Projections of Budgeted Amounts for Nuclear Forces
Nuclear delivery systems and weapons
Strategic systems
Ballistic missile submarines
Intercontinental ballistic missiles
Bombers
Other nuclear activitiesb
Subtotal

Subtotal
Total, Nuclear Delivery Systems and Weapons

Command, control, communications, and early-warning systems
Command and control
Communications
Early warning
Subtotal
Total Budgeted Amounts for Nuclear Forces

Estimated Additional Costs Based on Historical Cost Growth
Total Estimated Cost of Nuclear Forces

Total

a

Source: Congressional Budget Office based on information from the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy.
Note: DoD = Department of Defense; DOE = Department of Energy; n.a. = not applicable.
a. This category is based on CBO’s analysis of DoD’s and DOE’s budget proposals and accompanying documents as well as CBO’s projections
of those budget figures under the assumption that programs will proceed as described in budget documentation. The category also
includes several programs for which plans are still being formulated. In those cases, CBO based its estimate on historical costs of
analogous programs. The budgeted amounts do not reflect independent estimates by CBO of the costs of U.S. nuclear forces.
b. This category includes nuclear-related research and operations support activities by DoD that CBO could not associate with a specific type
of delivery system or weapon.
c. Activities include security forces, transportation of nuclear materials and weapons, and scientific research and high-performance
computing to improve understanding of nuclear explosions. This category also includes $400 million in 2015 and $4 billion over the
2015–2024 period for federal salaries and expenses. (This category of costs had previously been referred to as Office of the Administrator
of the National Nuclear Security Administration.)

CBO

 JANUARY 2015

Categories With the
Largest Changes in Costs
CBO projects higher budgeted amounts over the 2015–
2024 period than it projected for the 2014–2023 period
for nuclear delivery systems and weapons as well as for
weapons laboratories and supporting activities. But it
projects lower budgeted amounts for command, control,
communications, and early-warning systems and less
overall cost growth.

Nuclear Delivery Systems and Weapons
By CBO’s estimate, the amounts budgeted for strategic
nuclear delivery systems and weapons over 10 years under
DoD’s and DOE’s plans would be about $4 billion more
than CBO estimated in 2013, mostly because plans have
changed somewhat in the 2015 budget for all three segments of the strategic nuclear triad of SSBNs, ICBMs,
and bombers.
SSBNs. CBO projects that budgeted amounts for ballistic
missile submarines would total $83 billion over 10 years,
about $1 billion more than its 2013 estimate (see
Table 2). Most of that sum would be for DoD’s SSBN
programs, which are projected to cost $75 billion, about
$4 billion more than the 2013 estimate. The increase is
primarily because the program for developing the new
SSBN is shifting from the design phase and into production. In 2024, the final year of the 10-year period, the
first new submarine is expected to be in its third year of
construction, and the second new submarine is slated for
procurement.
According to CBO’s current projections, DOE’s share of
the amounts budgeted for SSBNs would be $8 billion,
$3 billion less than CBO estimated in 2013. That
decrease is mostly the result of a five-year delay in the
planned development of the first interoperable warhead,
or IW-1, which would be a single warhead design that is
compatible either with submarine-based or with groundbased ballistic missiles. (In CBO’s analysis, the cost of
interoperable warheads is split evenly between SSBNs
and ICBMs.) Other factors also contribute to the decline
in DOE’s share of the projected budgeted amounts for
SSBNs. The department will spend less for the SSBNs’
nuclear power reactors (primarily because the design of
the new submarine’s reactor will be completed before
2024); modifications to extend the useful life of the W76
warhead are expected to be completed in 2019; and
the department has decided to delay development of the
IW-2, the second interoperable warhead.

PROJECTED COSTS OF U.S. NUCLEAR FORCES, 2015 TO 2024

5

ICBMs. CBO projects that the amounts budgeted for
ICBMs over 10 years would total $26 billion, nearly
$3 billion more than its 2013 estimate. Of that, DoD’s
share would be $24 billion, $4 billion more than CBO
estimated in 2013. However, the most recent estimate
comes with substantial uncertainty about DoD’s plans.
The department plans to operate the current Minuteman
III ICBM through 2030. Although it is considering
several options for fulfilling the ICBM’s mission after
2030—such as refurbishing existing missiles, developing
a new missile, or both—its plans are not final.
In formulating its estimate in 2013, CBO assumed that
DoD would design a new ICBM to replace the Minuteman III and that development would begin in 2018.
However, in the 2015 budget, DoD indicated that it
intends to replace the engines and guidance systems in
the Minuteman III and that development for both efforts
will begin in 2015. For this current estimate, CBO
assumes that development of a new ICBM (if pursued)
would not begin in earnest until after the refurbishment
of the existing missiles is complete. Although those
actions could reduce DoD’s costs over the next several
decades, CBO projects that over the 2015–2024 period,
budgeted amounts would be somewhat higher than it
anticipated in 2013 because refurbishing the existing
missiles would start sooner and budgets would grow
more rapidly in the short term than would occur with
development of a new ICBM.
According to CBO’s current projections, DOE’s share of
the amounts budgeted for ICBMs would be nearly
$3 billion, about $1 billion less than CBO estimated in
2013. The primary reason for that decrease is the delay
in beginning development of IW-1.
Bombers. Under the Administration’s plans, CBO projects, the amounts budgeted for bombers over 10 years
would be $40 billion, roughly the same as it estimated in
2013. Of that amount, DoD’s share would be
$32 billion, $3 billion more than it estimated in 2013.5
The increase is attributable mostly to the planned ramp up
5. Bombers are used both for nuclear and for conventional missions.
In its cost estimates, CBO has attributed 25 percent of the costs
for the B-52 and Long-Range Strike Bomber to the nuclear
mission and 75 percent to the conventional mission. In contrast,
CBO attributed 100 percent of the costs of the B-2 bomber and
nuclear-capable cruise missiles to the nuclear mission.

CBO

 6

PROJECTED COSTS OF U.S. NUCLEAR FORCES, 2015 TO 2024

JANUARY 2015

Table 2.

Differences in 10-Year Costs for Categories With the Largest Changes Between the 2015–2024 and
2014–2023 Estimates
Billions of Dollars
Category

DoD

Difference in 10-Year Totala
DOE

Total

4
4
3
n.a.

-3
-1
-3
2

1
3
0
2

-4

n.a.

-4

-2
___
5

-8
___
-13

-10
___
-8

6

-13

-7

b

CBO's Projections of Budgeted Amounts for Nuclear Forces
Nuclear delivery systems and weapons
Ballistic missile submarines
Intercontinental ballistic missiles
Bombers
Nuclear weapons laboratories and supporting activities
Command, control, communications, and early-warning systems
Estimated Additional Costs Based on Historical Cost Growth
Total, Categories With Largest Changes
Memorandum:

Total Across All Categoriesc

Source: Congressional Budget Office based on information from the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy.
Note: DoD = Department of Defense; DOE = Department of Energy; n.a. = not applicable.
a. The difference is calculated as the 2015–2024 estimate in this report minus the 2014–2023 estimate made in December 2013, so a
positive amount reflects an increase in the more recent estimate.
b. This category is based on CBO’s analysis of DoD’s and DOE’s budget proposals and accompanying documents as well as CBO’s projections
of those budget figures under the assumption that programs will proceed as described in budget documentation. The category also
includes several programs for which plans are still being formulated. In those cases, CBO based its estimate on historical costs of
analogous programs. The budgeted amounts do not reflect independent estimates by CBO of the costs of U.S. nuclear forces.
c. This category includes contributions from all categories shown in Table 1, including those categories with differences of less than
$1 billion between the 2014 estimate and the 2013 estimate.

in development and production of the Long-Range Strike
Bomber (initial fielding is scheduled for the mid-2020s).
A budget-driven three-year delay in developing the LongRange Standoff (LRSO) weapon—a new nuclear-capable
cruise missile to replace the current Air-Launched Cruise
Missile—is expected to reduce 10-year costs, partially offsetting the increase in the projected cost of the bombers.
CBO estimates that DOE’s portion of the budgeted
amounts for the bombers would amount to $7 billion,
$3 billion less than it estimated in 2013. The difference is
derived from changes in DOE’s plans for the LRSO’s
warhead, which now call for delaying production by three
years and stretching the development program by three
years, and, as a result, would reduce the 10-year budgeted
amounts. Both DoD and DOE have indicated that, with
additional funding, development and production of the
LRSO and its warhead could be accelerated, however.
CBO

In addition to changing the schedule, DOE has updated
the parameters it uses to estimate the costs of future programs for extending the service lives of nuclear warheads.
(Estimates for current programs have not changed
substantially.) For example, DOE now estimates a substantially lower lifetime cost to develop and produce the
cruise missile warhead (as outlined in its Stockpile
Stewardship Management Plan, or SSMP). For that
weapon, the estimated cost under the 2015 SSMP is
$6.8 billion (with a range of $5.9 billion to $7.6 billion);
the estimate in the 2014 SSMP was $11.5 billion (with
no range specified). Some effects of the change in DOE’s
cost estimates would occur after the 10-year window that
CBO used for its budget projections.

Nuclear Weapons Laboratories and
Supporting Activities
CBO projects that under DOE’s plans, the budgeted
amounts for that agency’s nuclear weapons laboratories
and supporting activities over 10 years would be

 JANUARY 2015

$79 billion, $2 billion more than its 2013 estimate.
Among the main contributors to the increase are the need
for continuing design and preparation to build the
department’s Uranium Processing Facility; an increase in
production of nuclear materials, process certification, and
safety support as laboratories prepare for new life extension efforts for some weapons; and an emphasis on catching up on deferred maintenance at some facilities.

Command, Control, Communications, and
Early-Warning Systems
CBO projects that the amounts budgeted for DoD’s
nuclear command, control, communications, and earlywarning systems over 10 years would be $52 billion,
about $4 billion less than its 2013 estimate. About $1 billion of that decrease falls under the command and control subcategory largely because of a planned reduction in
operating costs for headquarters activities at Strategic
Command and Global Strike Command (in keeping with
a departmentwide effort to reduce costs). However, like
the nuclear delivery systems and weapons, many nuclear
command and control systems are aging and may need to
be modernized. One source of uncertainty in CBO’s estimates is the potential for new modernization activities
that are not yet reflected in DoD’s budget, which could
increase costs over the projection period.
CBO’s estimate of the budgeted amounts for nuclearrelated communications also has shrunk, accounting for
more than $2 billion of the reduction. The largest contributor is a new concept for the Advanced Extremely
High Frequency communications satellite program. DoD
now plans to forgo procuring satellites of the current
design in favor of developing two new smaller satellites to
fulfill the mission. The new plan would reduce costs over
the next 10 years, according to DoD, although the extent
to which it would affect long-term costs is not yet known.
The projected budgeted amounts for early-warning
systems also have declined somewhat.

Additional Costs Based on Historical Cost Growth
CBO projects that cost growth beyond its estimates of
budgeted amounts would total $49 billion over the next
10 years, $10 billion less than its 2013 estimate. Growth
in DoD’s costs would amount to $28 billion, $2 billion
less than CBO estimated in 2013. In general, most cost
growth occurs when new systems are in development and
early in production. Over the next 10 years, DoD would
continue to develop and produce several new systems,
including a ballistic missile submarine and a bomber, and

PROJECTED COSTS OF U.S. NUCLEAR FORCES, 2015 TO 2024

7

such programs historically have experienced cost growth.
With more development and production expected to
occur in the 2015–2024 period than was projected for
the 2014–2023 period, cost growth in those programs is
expected to be higher in the later period. However,
CBO’s overall estimate of cost growth for DoD has
declined slightly because CBO now projects smaller pay
increases for military and civilian personnel than it projected last year, which more than offset the increase in
estimated cost growth in development programs.6
Cost growth in DOE’s program accounts for $21 billion
of the total, $8 billion less than CBO estimated in 2013.
DOE has either deferred or lengthened the development
periods for life extension programs for two warheads so
that most of the costs would be incurred after the end of
the 10-year period covered by this report. The effect
of that schedule change is a reduction in cost growth
projected for DOE over the next 10 years, although some
might occur later.
6. For information about CBO’s new projection of pay for military
and civilian personnel, see Congressional Budget Office, LongTerm Implications of the 2015 Future Years Defense Program
(November 2014), www.cbo.gov/publication/49483.

This Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report
was prepared as required by the National Defense
Authorization Act for 2015. In keeping with CBO’s
mandate to provide objective, impartial analysis, this
report makes no recommendations.
Michael Bennett of CBO’s National Security Division
prepared the report with guidance from David Mosher
and Matthew Goldberg. Raymond Hall of the Budget
Analysis Division contributed to the analysis with
guidance from Sarah Jennings.
Jeffrey Kling, John Skeen, and Robert Sunshine
reviewed the report, Gabe Waggoner edited it, and
Jeanine Rees prepared it for publication. An electronic
version is available on CBO’s website, www.cbo.gov/
publication/49870.

Douglas W. Elmendorf
Director

CBO