The NNSA plans to invest over $60 billion in modernizing the US' "aging" nuclear arsenal, and that process faces setbacks due to several factors, including "maturing technologies, producing or procuring components, and overseeing contractors," the GOA said on Tuesday in its "Assessments of Nuclear Weapon Acquisitions" report.
"NNSA has not documented, in a formal or comprehensive manner, the process that its programs must follow to identify which technologies are critical technologies—that is, technologies critical to meeting a system's operational requirements that are new or novel or are used in a new or novel way," the office said, adding that the administration has nonetheless established "numerous requirements" for its programs.
One of the problems is that it is difficult to understand how long it will take to mature technologies to a production-ready state, which in turn means that it is often difficult to fully develop critical technologies, the office added.
"By more formally and comprehensively documenting its process, NNSA may help ensure that its nuclear weapon programs do not waste valuable funding and schedule resources," the report read.
In late November, a report by the Roscongress Foundation, obtained by Sputnik, showed that the US plans to spend some $138 billion on modernizing its nuclear arsenal by 2049, which "effectively" signals the start of an arms race. Another $500 billion is expected to be spent on stockpile management, the report said, adding that the number of people employed in the nuclear modernization program has increased by more than 70 percent over the past decade.