Nuclear Cruise Missile Reconsideration Act of 2017

This bill prohibits the obligation or expenditure of more than specified amounts by the Department of Defense (DOD) on development of the long-range standoff weapon or any other nuclear-capable air-launched cruise missile, or by the Department of Energy on the life extension program for the W80-4 warhead, until DOD submits to specified congressional committees a Nuclear Posture Review that includes an assessment of:

• the anticipated capabilities of the long-range standoff weapon to hold targets at risk beyond other already existing and planned nuclear-capable delivery systems;
• the anticipated ability of such weapon to elude adversary integrated air and missile defenses compared to the B-21 bomber; and
• the anticipated effect of such weapon on strategic stability relative to other nuclear-armed countries, on the offensive nuclear weapons capabilities and programs of other nuclear-armed countries, on the response of other nuclear-armed countries to proposals to decrease or halt the growth of their nuclear stockpiles, and on the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons.