SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s two senators urged the Department of Defense on Monday to keep an Air Force effort to modernize the nation’s intercontinental ballistic missile system on track.
Republican Sens. Mike Lee and Mitt Romney joined six other senators, including one Democrat, in a letter to Defense Secretary Mark Esper saying any delay in the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent program risks undermining U.S. defense capabilities at home and abroad.
“With our adversaries continuing to pursue their nuclear ambitions, modernizing our nuclear deterrent must remain a high priority,” Romney said in a tweet.
Russia, China, Iran and North Korea continue to pursue nuclear ambitions, whether to develop more advanced capabilities or obtain their first nuclear weapon, the senators wrote.
The Ground Based Strategic Deterrent program, slated to be operational in 2029, would replace the 1970s-era Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile. The senators say there is no slack in the construction schedule and they are committed to providing funding to make that goal.
Northrop Grumman broke ground in August for a facility adjacent to Hill Air Force Base that will serve as the future headquarters for the defense contractor’s local workforce and nationwide team that will support the new ICBM program. It will bring an estimated 2,500 new jobs to Utah.
The company has supported the Air Force’s missile defense systems for more than 60 years, with much of the work being done in the state.
In April, Lee and Romney urged the Pentagon and the Air Force to reject taking funds away from planned military construction projects in Utah as a result of President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border.
But last month the Trump administration diverted $54 million in projects at Hill Air Force Base to help fund construction of a border wall. The decision pulled $26 million for a Composite Aircraft Antenna Calibration Facility and another $28 million to upgrade the Utah Test and Training Range Consolidated Mission Control Center.
The two projects were among $3.6 billion from 127 existing military construction projects the administration shifted to build 175 miles of wall.