The Air Force's plan for the nuclear-capable Long-Range Standoff (LRSO) weapon to replace the Air-Launched Cruise Missile faces a formidable foe on Capitol Hill-Sen. Dianne Fein-stein (D-Calif.). The Pentagon has asked for $36.6 million in research funding for LRSO in fiscal 2016, at a time when the program is about to start. Over five years, the government expects to spend $1.8 billion on it. But Feinstein says that is only half the anticipated outlay. The initiative is driving another pricey life-extension program at the Energy Department for the W80 warhead that would ride on the missile, which is also projected to cost $1.8 billion through fiscal 2020. And Feinstein, the top Democrat on the committee that funds the Energy Department, says LRSO is competing with funding for nuclear nonprolifera-tion programs. She questions the need for it, given the arsenal of gravity bombs, submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM).
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