Pentagon To Spend $1 Trillion To Upgrade Its Nuclear Arsenal

The Pentagon announced Friday that it would spend $1 trillion to upgrade an array of missiles, submarines and bombers, local media reported.

The emergency spending program will be carried out in order to update its ageing nuclear arsenal.

The US defense secretary Chuck Hagel said, “"No other mission we have is more important. It deters nuclear attack on the US and our allies and our partners. It prevents our adversaries from trying to escalate their way out of failed conventional aggression."

Hagel said, “The Pentagon on Friday decided that the decision to upgrade the US nuclear weapons arsenal came after a series of reviews. He said that the internal and external reviews revealed "a consistent lack of investment and support for our nuclear forces over far too many years has left us with too little margin to cope with mounting stresses".

Hagel added, "The root cause has been a lack of sustained focus, attention, and resources, resulting in a pervasive sense that a career in the nuclear enterprise offers too few opportunities for growth and advancement."

The US annual spending on its nuclear forces is $16billion and it is expected to increase on average by 10% annually for the next five years.

Russia announced last week that it would be boycotting an international nuclear security summit, scheduled to be hosted by Obama in 2016.