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| September 11th, 2007 |
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Media Contact(s): Jared Whitley 202-224-5251 |
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Printable Version |
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HATCH WANTS THE DEPT. OF DEFENSE TO MAINTAIN AN INDUSTRIAL BASE FOR LAND-BASED ICBMS
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Washington - Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) today introduced a bill, the Strategic Deterrent Sustainment Act of 2007, which is cosponsored by Sen. Robert Bennett (R-Utah). This legislation would require the Secretary of Defense to develop a strategy to maintain a national industrial base capable of replacing, maintaining and modernizing our Minuteman III missile fleet until after 2030. Major components of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) are constructed at a variety of locales throughout Utah, and depot maintenance on land-based ICBMs is performed at Hill Air Force Base.
“During this time of uncertainty, we must keep our nation’s defense industrial options open in order to meet the threats of the future,” Hatch said. “This bill will provide us a roadmap to a more secure long-term defense strategy and I hope that it will receive the support it deserves from my colleagues.”
To put the situation in context, in 2002, the Administration wisely committed the United States to a policy of modernizing our land-based ICBM force. Under this policy, the Peacemaker ICBM has been retired and that system’s warheads are being retrofitted and placed into the Minuteman III fleet. In addition to the new warheads, 500 Minuteman III systems are being completely rebuilt and thoroughly modernized. Unfortunately, after this work is completed, no other work on land-based strategic missile systems is planned.
“As we have learned from experience, building an ICBM is an extremely complex feat of engineering,” Hatch said. “It requires engineers with years of experience and highly trained and professional manufacturing specialists to build successfully and safely a missile system.”
Hatch is concerned that if the manufacturing base of the ICBM complex loses momentum, then these sought-after engineers and specialists will find employment elsewhere. In addition, if a replacement system will not be built until 2030, it is very likely that much of our nation’s knowledge on how to design and build a land-based strategic missile system will be lost. This has been the case recently in Britain which this year decided to modernize its nuclear deterrent system. However, since the British nuclear warhead industrial base all but ceased to exist years ago, that nation will now have to allocate billions of additional pounds to reconstitute their design and production capability.
“The cost of maintaining a missile system is modest compared to the cost of rebuilding our industrial infrastructure, or worse, getting caught flat-footed in the event of a nuclear threat,” Hatch said.
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