Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control Working Group Statement on Certification of Wasteful Sentinel ICBM Program

Washington (July 15, 2024) - Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), co-chair of the bicameral Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control Working Group (NWAC), along with co-chairs Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Representatives John Garamendi (CA-08) and Don Beyer (VA-08), released the following statement on the Department of Defense certifying the Sentinel Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) program's breach under the Nunn-McCurdy statute.

On January 18, 2024, Congress was notified of a "critical" Nunn-McCurdy breach on the Sentinel program, which is triggered if costs increase by 25% or more over the current baseline cost estimate. Recently, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, Dr. William A. LaPlante, announced that a "significantly modified" Sentinel program is now estimated to cost $140.9 billion, an 81 percent cost increase compared to its 2020 baseline cost estimates.

"We are extremely troubled by the re-certification of the Sentinel Intercontinental Ballistic Missile program. We have been clear that the Department of Defense must conduct a comprehensive, thorough, and unbiased review of the program, but this review only confirmed what we already knew: the Sentinel program's astronomical costs are a result of underestimated costs, poor assumptions, incomplete data, and a lack of oversight. Given these egregious overruns and the failure to truly consider viable alternatives, the Air Force's decision to continue the Sentinel program is disheartening," said the lawmakers.

In June 2024, the Congressional Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control Working Group led a letter to U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin regarding concerns about the Department of Defense's handling of the Sentinel ICBM program.

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