Submitted Photo Sen. Kevin Cramer, center, and Sen. Mark Kelly, right, discuss defense modernization during a panel discussion at the Gobal Aerospace Summit in Washington, D.C., Wednesday. At left is panel moderator Ellen Lord, former under secretary of defense for Acquisition and Sustainment.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – America needs to move fast or risk falling behind its adversaries in nuclear defense, according to U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-ND.

Cramer and Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, announced Wednesday the launch of the bipartisan Senate Defense Modernization Caucus. The announcement came during the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s GLobal Aerospace Summit, where the two senators spoke on a panel on defense modernization.

“Caucuses are a platform and a venue and an opportunity for members of both political parties and both chambers to get together and raise awareness of need,” Cramer said. “In the case of modernization for our military, there’s a lot of demand to move faster, to move at the speed of China. We are now facing not one, but two, near peer nuclear adversaries in the world. We haven’t modernized our nuclear assets for 50 years, almost, and so, we need to do things fast, and our Department of Defense cannot do things fast. It’s incapable. It’s a bogged down old machine. It’s very, very rusty. And so we want to provide a platform, raise awareness, look for opportunities, for smaller companies and universities, even investment opportunities. There’s a lot of brain power out there that doesn’t reside in the top three or four largest industrial companies.”

Cramer highlighted the modernization of the nuclear triad during the summit and spoke about the capabilities of Minot Air Force Base, mentioning the new weapon systems being developed for deployment at Minot and other locations.

Minot AFB is home to two legs of the nation’s nuclear triad: B-52 strategic bombers and Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles. The B-52 is capable of carrying nuclear capable air-launched cruise missiles, which are to be upgraded to the new long range standoff. The Minuteman III missiles will be replaced by the modern Sentinel missile.

“When it comes to Minot, specifically, it is the epicenter of nuclear modernization. Nuclear modernization is the highest priority of the national defense strategy,” Cramer said. “And we’ve got to work much faster – at a rate, at a price point, and at a technological speed – than we’re doing right now.

“A lot of this is about Minot, but it’s really about everything. It’s about space. It’s about next generation aircraft. It’s about unmanned submarines. It’s about how do the allies in the world work together at a faster pace? It’s about acquisition reforms and research and development reforms. It’s about encouraging greater common sense risk taking. All of that is important throughout our entire fleet, but at the epicenter of it all is the nuclear triad,” he added.

The defense modernization caucus is being led in the House by RCongressmen Rob Wittman, R-Va., and Pat Ryan, D-N.Y.