B-52s, B-21s and GBSDs: The Costs and Importance of Deterrence Modernization

By Kris Osborn – President & Editor-In-Chief, Warrior Maven

Kris Osborn, Warrior Maven President – Center for Military Modernization

Hello and welcome to warrior Maven, the Center for military modernization very significant conversation today in light of the nuclear threat posed by Putin and the Russian military. Sure enough, the forces were not only put on alert, but there have been even more recent threats, of course, along with the use of hypersonic weapons for the first time ever, here to talk about this as a very gifted expert, Mr. Peter Huessy. He is a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute, a Non-Resident Fellow at the Atlantic Council, and also has his own consultancy GeoStrategic Analysis, Mr. Huessy, thank you so much for your expertise.

Peter Huessy, Senior Warrior Maven Nuclear Weapons Analyst

Thank you, Kris, for inviting me. It’s an honor to talk with you today.

Kris Osborn, Warrior Maven President – Center for Military Modernization

Sure enough, for many years, there’s been this ongoing debate about the need to modernize sustain the Minuteman III’s and of course, introduce the GBSD new ICBM, and sure enough, that kind of discussion has rapidly taken on even newer urgency, and that’s not to say it wasn’t previously urgent as well. 

And so is there a bit of a gap or an impasse here in the sense that GBSD is projected to be ready end of the 2020s 28, 29, the Columbia class is expected to have its first patrols, I want to say as early as late as 2031 or so and the B-21 is moving along, it’s about to take flight, and will may potentially be ready in just the next couple of years.