[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 39 (Tuesday, March 5, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S1645]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Nuclear Deterrence

  Mrs. FISCHER. Mr. President, in the 116th Congress, I am once again 
chairing the Senate Armed Services Committee Subcommittee on Strategic 
Forces, which oversees our nuclear forces.
  Over the coming months, I will be coming to the floor to discuss 
specific components of our nuclear deterrent and their contributions to 
the defense of this Nation.
  Today, I rise to speak about the critical role strategic bombers play 
in our nuclear triad. The triad is known for its flexibility and 
resilience, and bombers contribute to this flexibility in important 
ways. They are highly visible, and they can be forward deployed. They 
can be used to signal resolve to our adversaries and commitment to our 
allies.
  This benefit is not theoretical. Bombers have been used in exactly 
this way many times, particularly on the Korean Peninsula. Bombers are 
also recallable and, when armed with standoff weapons, they can offer 
the President a variety of tailored response options in a crisis.
  As the oldest leg of our nuclear triad, bombers have a long and 
distinguished history. In some ways, the story of the strategic bomber 
begins in the great State of Nebraska.
  In the early 1940s, Bellevue, NE, was home to the Martin Bomber 
Plant, which was located on the land that is now Offutt Air Force Base. 
The Martin plant, with the help of thousands of Nebraska workers, built 
and modified the Enola Gay and Bockscar. These two B-29 bombers went on 
to deliver the Little Boy and Fat Man nuclear bombs over Hiroshima and 
Nagasaki, ending World War II and ushering in the nuclear age. The 
horrific destruction of these attacks established the deterrent power 
that has prevented conflict on a global scale ever since.
  As ballistic missile technology evolved, the bomber continued to be 
the mainstay of our nuclear deterrent forces through the early 1970s. 
Although bombers carried the heavy load for many decades, today we no 
longer rely on them in the same way. Nuclear-armed bombers have not 
been on 24-hour ready alert status since the end of the Cold War in 
1991, and the responsiveness that alert-status bombers provided now 
resides primarily with our ICBM forces.
  The strength provided by the other legs of the triad have allowed us 
to take our nuclear capable bombers off alert and use them for 
conventional missions. When we send B-52 bombers to Afghanistan to 
complete a conventional mission, we exercise the triad's flexibility. 
When U.S. B-2 bombers struck targets in Libya, we utilized the triad's 
flexibility. These examples clearly demonstrate that the flexibility of 
the triad is not an abstract concept. It is something our forces use 
every single day.
  Our current nuclear bomber force consists of 46 B-52 and 20 B-2 
aircraft. While we rely on this highly capable but aging fleet, we also 
look ahead to the future of the bomber force, and that is the B-21.
  As the B-21 development progresses, it is important to remember the 
lessons learned from the last time we developed a nuclear bomber, the 
B-2. As the Cold War ended, nuclear tensions cooled and the need for an 
expensive nuclear-capable stealth bomber seemed to diminish. Even 
though the B-2 had already been developed and significant resources 
spent on research and development, Congress decided to reduce the final 
order from 132 aircraft to 20. In so doing, the per-unit cost of the 
airframe rose to $2 billion. The Air Force has said it plans to buy at 
least 100 B-21s, but many in this Chamber believe more are likely 
required to meet the conventional mission the Nation expects our Air 
Force to perform.
  The nuclear triad is the bedrock of our national security, and the 
airborne leg continues to contribute to the strength and resilience of 
our nuclear forces. It is our responsibility to ensure that this 
capability is modernized, particularly as the global security 
environment transitions to one of long-term strategic competition.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nebraska.
  Mrs. FISCHER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
stand in recess under the previous order.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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