The commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, Adm. Cecil Haney, said Friday that America can no longer delay modernizing its strategic forces. With the U.S. Air Force extending the B-52’s lifespan into the 90 year range, until 2040, this seems like an understatement. “Modernization now is not an option” — it must happen. We have to realize we can’t extend things forever. We’re at the brick wall stage,” quoted Associated Press. It’s not just the bomber force that is aging beyond a reasonable lifespan, the intercontinental missile force is also getting up in years, as well as naval ballistic submarines. Although the military says the weapons are safe, reliable and effective, commanders are approaching the time when they may not be able to say that if new programs are not put in place soon to modernize U.S. strategic forces. Robert Work, the deputy secretary of defense, said the Pentagon will need an estimated $18 billion a year between 2021 and 2035 to modernize the three “legs” of the U.S. nuclear triad — weapons capable of being launched from land, sea and air. “We need to replace these,” Work said. “We can’t delay this anymore,” AP reported. The cost for this modernization will be immense, tens of billions of dollars. The Air Force has recently awarded the contract for a hundred new bombers, dubbed the B-21. The Navy is looking at a new class of ballistic missile subs. However, the Minuteman missile, on continuous alert since 1970, was designed with a ten year lifespan. Recently, the USAF successfully tested a Minuteman which delivered its payload on target in the Pacific.

There is absolutely NO doubt that we need to invest a LOT more into our military.  To remotely suggest otherwise should offend the intellect of a chihuahua.  Here at The Daily Buzz we’ve been, from day one, calling on our federally elected officials to not only double that part of the federal budget allocation for the Dept of Defense, but to probably triple it.  Same for the space program; both civilian (i.e. NASA) and military (i.e. the Air Force’s Space Command, and the U.S. Army’s “Space & Missile Defense Command” also called “SMDC”).   Unfortunately, our Moron-in-Chief has been gutting our military to pre-WWII levels, and that’s just foolish.  It’s dangerous given all of the threats we face.  China, Russia, and even N. Korea have been very open about their aggression and are throwing everything but the kitchen sink at their military programs…while our ICBM program hasn’t been modernized since 1970.  To put that into some perspective.. Richard Nixon was still President.  And, until very recently, our soldiers were using M-16 rifles; rifles that came into service during Vietnam…and were made by Matel; a toy company.  No joke!  It’s recent successor, the M-4 is just a slight update to that.  And then there is that pesky crazy middle east with all of those Islamo-fascist lunatics..with Iran leading the pack.  If we are to survive into the next century as a nation, we need to be prepared to address these threats that aren’t going away.  There is a reason that Russia and China are being so aggressive in their words and actions.  It’s because they see us a weak.  And, they’re not wrong.  Our next President had better change that perception.