Nuclear-Armed Subs May Cost U.S. 17% More, Budget Office Finds

The U.S. Navy’s plan to build as many as 12 new submarines armed with nuclear missiles may cost $92 billion, 17 percent more than the $79 billion the service has estimated, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The estimate in the budget office’s annual review of Navy shipbuilding raises new questions about the service’s acquisition strategy to replace its aging Ohio-class ballistic-missile submarines.

The findings underscore comments this month by the Pentagon’s top weapons buyer that the new submarine and other initiatives to upgrade or replace elements of the U.S.’s air-land-and-sea nuclear triad would present a “big affordability problem” to Ashton Carter, President Barack Obama’s nominee to serve as defense secretary, as the Pentagon faces the continuing budget cuts known as sequestration.

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