Effort to overhaul nuclear missile system expected to begin this fall

The Air Force will take a major step toward overhauling its Cold War-era nuclear missiles this fall, with plans to field hundreds of the weapons even as it must comply with a treaty calling for reductions alongside Russia.

The service expects to spend $62.3 billion over 30 years on 642 missiles, 400 of which would be operationally deployed, according to an Arms Control Association review of internal Air Force documents. The service had 447 deployed missiles as of last fall, and the reduction would keep the Air Force within New START reduction requirements.

Plans also call for new ground control stations, new command and control systems and replacing the flight system.

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