WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today asked Air Force General John E. Hyten, Commander of U.S. Strategic Command, about the cost of modernizing the nuclear triad. Wicker also asked Gen. Hyten about plans to replace the Ohio-class submarine with the new Columbia-class.

Gen. Hyten stated the Department of Defense would need to significantly increase its nuclear modernization budget over the next 30 years to meet this critical need. He also said that the Ohio-class submarine should start being replaced by the end of the next decade.