WASHINGTON _ President-elect Donald Trump said Thursday the U.S. should enlarge its nuclear arsenal, an apparent reversal of a decadeslong reduction of the nation's atomic weapons.
"The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to it senses regarding nukes," Trump said in a Twitter post.
President Barack Obama has both reduced the U.S. nuclear arsenal, in an agreement early in his presidency with Russia, and sought to modernize it to replace thousands of bombs and missiles. His modernization plan _ which the Arms Control Association said would cost as much as $1 trillion over 30 years _ has come under criticism from proponents of denuclearization, who warn it may prompt a new arms race with Russia and China.
Lockheed Martin Corp., Boeing Co. and Northrop Grumman Corp. are all competing to build a next generation of intercontinental ballistic missiles for the Air Force, a project expected to cost at least $85 billion. That is just one part of a modernization plan which will contribute to what defense analysts call a gathering "bow wave" of spending in the coming decade on major weapons that future presidents will face.
