Biden pressured to think again about axeing nuclear cruise missile

President Biden is facing pressure from within Congress to reverse his decision to cancel a $10 billion programme to develop a nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile (SLCM-N). The new deterrent weapon system had been fully supported by the top military hierarchy at the Pentagon but was officially scrapped last month as part of the administration’s nuclear posture review. Despite public backing from General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, the nuclear cruise missile was assessed to be of “zero value” in terms of deterrence against Russia and China and other potential adversaries. However, US defence sources confirmed that since the decision “hawks on the Hill” who disagreed with any military cuts made by the Biden administration had been pushing back and demanding a rethink. A former senior Pentagon official also pledged his support to reinstate the weapon programme. “I support Congressional efforts to restore funding for the SLCM-N project,” Eric Edelman, under-secretary of defence for policy from 2005 to 2009, said. He co-chaired a 2018 bipartisan national defence strategy commission mandated by Congress which endorsed the SLCM-N programme. “I continue to believe it would make a useful contribution to deterrence,” Edelman said. The idea for the new weapon system was proposed in the 2018 nuclear posture review. The Pentagon backed it as a way of providing an additional low-yield nuclear response to the use of tactical nuclear weapons by a foreign power. There have been fears recently that President Putin might resort to tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine following the series of military setbacks, including the withdrawal of Russian troops from the city of Kherson in the south. The US has warned Putin of “catastrophic consequences” if he uses nuclear weapons. However, Lloyd Austin, US defence secretary, has said that a new deterrent weapon capability was not needed. Also the nuclear cruise missile would not have been ready for service until 2035. The US Navy already has a low-yield warhead , the W76-2, on some of the Ohio-class Trident ballistic-missile submarines to provide regional deterrence; and the US Air Force has upgraded its B61 nuclear gravity bombs which are being placed in storage in Europe. The US defence sources said that although General Milley had supported the sea-launched nuclear cruise missile option, he had fully accepted the president’s decision to abandon it. The US Navy has said the scrapping of the SLCM-N weapon would initially save nearly $200 million and an additional $2 billion over the next five years.