U.S. to Retire Nuclear-Capable Cruise Missile

The United States plans to retire its nuclear-capable Advanced Cruise Missile as part of its effort to meet warhead-reduction obligations under the 2002 Moscow Treaty, the Federation of American Scientists said today (see GSN, March 2).

There are roughly 400 of the missiles deployed at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota and Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.  The missiles carry W80-1 warheads with yields of five to 150 kilotons and would be dropped by strategic bombers.

Federation analyst Hans Kristensen found that there was no proposed funding for the missiles in the fiscal 2008 Air Force budget.  The service subsequently acknowledged that the missiles were to be retired.

It was not immediately known when the missiles would be fully pulled from service, but it is expected to happen over the next year, the federation said.

The Moscow Treaty requires Russia and the United States to reduce their stockpile of operationally deployed strategic nuclear warheads to no more than 2,200 by 2012.

The United States has two cruise missiles in its nuclear arsenal.  The Advanced Cruise Missile is the only one with radar-evading stealth technology (Federation of American Scientists, March 7).

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