Congress is laying the groundwork to revive nuclear weapon capabilities on roughly 30 B-52H Stratofortress bombers that had been converted to drop only conventional munitions as a part of the Latest START arms control treaty with Russia.
Each the Senate and House defense policy bills for fiscal 2025 would require the Air Force to once more make these conventional bombers a part of the nuclear triad nearly a decade after removing those capabilities to comply with limits under the Latest START treaty. The present treaty is ready to run out in February 2026.
Lawmakers are wanting to beef up the U.S. nuclear arsenal given Russia’s suspension of the treaty and China’s rapidly expanding strategic warhead production. Opponents of the measure argue that the directives will make it harder to barter a brand new treaty while complicating efforts to significantly extend the lifespan of the B-52 bomber fleet first introduced in the course of the Cold War.
“The treaty expires in 2026, and the prospect of Russia coming to the table for serious arms control discussions is incredibly unlikely,” House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., said last week upon introducing the amendment to the FY25 defense policy bill, laws the House passed 217-199 on Friday. “We should be prepared to face a nuclear environment with none treaty limitations.”
The House bill would require the Air Force to start reconverting the bombers inside a month after the present treaty expires and complete the restoration of their nuclear capabilities by 2029. The House passed the B-52 amendment by voice vote over opposition from Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the highest Democrat on the Armed Services Committee.
“The Department of Defense just isn’t all for doing this,” said Smith. “What they’re all for doing is investing within the B-21, which is the subsequent generation nuclear-capable bomber. This could cost a terrific deal of cash. Also, they’re currently attempting to extend the lifetime of various B-52s out to 2050, which they think they will do. This could be one other added expense to that.”
The Senate Armed Services Committee voted 22-3 on Friday to advance its version of the bill with an identical provision directing the restoration of nuclear capabilities across the complete B-52 fleet.
The Air Force’s 76 B-52s are the oldest bombers in its fleet and have been flying because the early Nineteen Sixties. Through the Cold War, the Air Force flew nuclear-armed Stratofortresses along the sting of Soviet airspace.
Today, it stays one among the important thing elements of the U.S. nuclear triad, and is able to carrying the AGM-86B air-launched cruise missile, or ALCM, nuclear weapon.
Not all B-52s have that capability. The Air Force in 2015 began removing nuclear capabilities from about 30 B-52Hs to comply with Latest START requirements.
The Senate ratified Latest START in 2010. The treaty limits each countries to 1,550 deployed warheads. Although Washington and Moscow agreed to increase the treaty for five years in 2021, Russia suspended its participation in Latest START in 2023 amid heightened tensions with NATO over its invasion of Ukraine.
Air Force Global Strike Command declined to comment in regards to the potential restoration of nuclear capabilities to the remaining of the B-52 fleet.
Mark Gunzinger, a former B-52 pilot and director of future concepts and capability assessments on the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, said that if it does occur, the reconversions would probably happen during depot maintenance at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma, because the B-52 fleet receives top-to-bottom upgrades.
Later this decade, the Air Force will begin a sweeping overhaul of the B-52 fleet, giving the six-decade-old bombers recent engines, radar, avionics, digital cockpit displays, wheels and brakes, and other improvements.
The modernization is so significant that the service plans to redub these bombers the B-52J. The service eventually plans to have a fleet of two bombers, with the B-52J flying alongside the brand new B-21 Raider once the Air Force retires the B-1 Lancer and B-2 Spirit.
Deployed warheads
President Joe Biden’s arms control adviser Pranay Vaddi told the annual Arms Control Association conference in Washington this month that the U.S. has reached out to Russia about negotiating a follow-on agreement to Latest START but that Moscow has been unwilling to interact.
He said the Biden administration doesn’t currently plan to extend the variety of deployed warheads, though those decisions could be contingent on Russian and Chinese actions ahead of Latest START’s expiration.
“The explanations for having a rise in your day-to-day deployed nuclear weapons must be pretty compelling for a choice to be made to try this,” said Vaddi. “One in all the most important triggers for that or the newest indicators that we’ve got to concentrate to is what the [People’s Republic of China] finally ends up doing.”
“Those are necessary considerations for us to remember as we march toward February 1, 2026.”
The U.S. deploys some 1,770 strategic nuclear warheads while Russia deploys around 1,822, in line with the Nuclear Threat Initiative. China currently has around 500 operational warheads and the Pentagon expects Beijing will reach 1,500 by 2035.
Daryl Kimball, the chief director of the Arms Control Association, argued the B-52 amendment and other measures within the defense bill could make negotiating a follow-up treaty with Russia harder.
“This provision in addition to another provisions which are within the bills that purpose steps to extend the variety of deployed strategic nuclear weapons are extremely premature, counterproductive and – given the skyrocketing cost of the prevailing nuclear weapons modernization program – they’re cost prohibitive,” Kimball told Defense News. “Some members of Congress unnecessarily panic and are on the lookout for ways to extend the US stockpile with no clear national security rationale.”
One other provision within the Senate defense policy bill from Sen. Deb Fischer of Nebraska, the highest Republican on the Strategic Forces panel, would require a plan to develop a further 50 Sentinel Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles on top of 400 ICBMs already deployed.
Gunzinger said that with Russia now not adhering to the Latest START treaty, it is smart to bolster the B-52 fleet’s nuclear capabilities given the potential threats the USA could face from China and Russia, in addition to Iran and North Korea.
“We’re now facing a situation where there’s two nuclear peers,” Gunzinger told Defense News. “Now we have a nuclear triad that’s sized for a single nuclear peer, Russia.”
Gunzinger said the restoration could probably be kept away from much difficulty. The vital wiring might be still in place, he said, and physical components that had been removed may very well be re-installed.
“It’s doable, and that’s the fantastic thing about maintaining bombers that will be re-equipped with the suitable [nuclear weapons] components,” he said. “It’s a hedge against future uncertainty, and we at the moment are in a future where it’s not one which we expected, even just just a few short years ago.”
Bryant Harris is the Congress reporter for Defense News. He has covered U.S. foreign policy, national security, international affairs and politics in Washington since 2014. He has also written for Foreign Policy, Al-Monitor, Al Jazeera English and IPS News.
Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.