The Defense Deep State is undermining President Trump's guidance to build regional deterrence. They've drug their feet on re-nuking Tomahawks carried by Submarines, Destroyers, and Cruisers.
President Trump made it clear in his first term - the U.S. will re-add the W-80 Nuclear Warhead to the old but reliable Tomahawk Cruise Missile. Congress directed this at the end of the first term, the Biden Committee slow rolled the plan, and now that President Trump is back for his second term, the Navy rolls out their plan for Initial Operational Capability (IOC).
The answer is: 2034
This is more intentional foot dragging by the Deep State Industrial Complex.
Re-nuclearizing Tomahawk should be one of the simplest and fastest ways to add regional nuclear deterrence as a message to China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, and even Venezuela and South Africa.
It will take nine years? This is a joke.
Here are some of the Deep State canards of why it will take nine years:
- Most competent nuclear engineers and program managers have retired or were forced out by DEI led purges.
- The blueprints are paper only (they should have been digitized 15 years ago).
- Our ability to regenerate existing W-80 warheads or even new warheads shows the intentional atrophy of our Nuclear Enterprise to make the U.S. vulnerable to the China led world order.
- The Nuclear Tomahawk takes away from the idol of the Obama-Biden Cult, the nuclear free fall bomb, the B-61-12 with tail fins. With this bomb, the pilot still has to essentially fly over the target - which means they likely will be sacrificed by getting shot down. This is 1950s thinking and virtue signaling at the expense of dedicated U.S. Military Pilots.
- 2034 puts IOC beyond President Trump’s third term and gives more opportunities for Nuclear Tomahawk to be cancelled.
- Pushing out IOC will give more opportunity to engage in Nuclear Talks with Russia and now China (which was never involved in Nuclear talks). Deep Staters love Nuclear Talks because it means endless travel miles as they shuttle back and forth to Vienna or Geneva, Business Class, and live the good life on the public dole. Just like what Globalists did in the 1920s and 1930s with their endless Disarmament Conferences, firmly ensuring World War II would happen.
I don't believe for one second that the DEI purge has caused the loss of nuclear engineers/program managers.
I don't believe their loss will have any effect at all on any of the armed services.
Retired personnel should be enticed back in to train new personnel and not be subject to physical requirements.