Cost of US Nuclear Delivery Systems Soared 40% in a Single Year

The amount of money spent on US nuclear delivery systems soared by 40 percent in 2014 over the previous year, a GAO report says.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The amount of money spent on US nuclear delivery systems soared by 40 percent in 2014 over the previous year, and the US nuclear complex now costs $300 billion per year to maintain, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report said.

“[The Department of Defense]’s estimates for nuclear delivery systems increased by about 40 percent from [the 2013] report, due in part to changes in the methodologies used to develop them,” the report, which was released on Thursday, said.

The GAO noted that the total cost of the US government‘s military and civilian nuclear programs combined amounted to $298.1 billion in Fiscal Year 2014.

That figure was comprised of $100.1 billion spent on maintaining the US nuclear stockpile and its security, $163.4 billion on nuclear delivery systems and $34.6 billion spent on the command, control and communications (C3) systems of the strategic force, the report said.

The C3 expenditures also covered “the nuclear command and control system, which includes early warning radars, aircraft and communications networks, and… delivery systems,” the report explained.

US strategic nuclear delivery systems consist of a variety of platforms such as heavy bombers, air-launched cruise missiles and ballistic-missile submarines, the report stated.

The US Government Accountability Office is an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress and investigates how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars.