Navy, Air Force Officials Push Expansion of Cooperation on Strategic Systems

摘要

CRANE NAVAL SURFACE WARFARE CENTER, Ind.—With the defense budget continuing to tighten, the Navyrnand Air Force must expand their cooperation on the nation’s fleet of delivery vehicles, senior officials at a StrategicrnDeterrence Conference here said this week, with Navy Vice Adm. Terry Benedict advocating an “intelligentrncommonality” approach that takes full advantage of opportunities for common components among the nation’srnintercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles. In 2012, the Navy and Air Forcernsigned a memorandum of understanding to increase cooperation and established eight working groups to explorernareas of commonality, but Benedict suggested they could—and perhaps should—go much further in exploringrnareas of interoperability on long-term follow-ons to the Navy’s Trident II D5 and the Air Force’s Minuteman IIIrnstrategic weapons systems. “Maybe the triad moves to a point where we need to think about a joint ballisticrnmissile program office,” said Benedict, the director of the Navy’s Strategic Systems Programs. “And instead ofrnICBMs and SLBMs we think strategic missiles. Maybe instead of Navy warheads and Air Force warheads wernthink national nuclear capability.”