Boeing, Northrop Grumman Awarded Contracts to Develop New ICBMs
Boeing and Northrop Grumman both won contracts on Monday for the next phase of the US Air Force's Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent program to replace its Minuteman III missiles
Dan Arkin
| 23/08/2017
Test launch of a Minuteman III ICBM from Vandenberg AFB, California, USA (Photo courtesy of the 30th Space Wing)
Boeing and Northrop Grumman have received $349.2 million and $328.6 million contracts respectively for the development of the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent replacement for the LGM-30G Minuteman III ballistic missile, according to UPI.
Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin have all been competing to develop the new missile. The newly announced contracts leave Lockheed Martin out of the race. The contracts will run until mid-2020 when one of the two companies will be selected to finish the program. The Pentagon is expected to order over 400 missiles.
The deals come amid nuclear threats against the US by North Korea and increased tension with Russia, which is upgrading its ICBMs, Defense One adds.
The Ground Based Strategic Deterrent is the US Air Force effort to replace the old Minuteman III ICBM which is nearing the end of its effective lifespan.
Variants of the Minuteman series of ICBMs have been in service since the early 1960s. Much of its components are over 50 years old, and the Air Force says a replacement is vital to maintaining the US nuclear "triad" of ground, air and sea deployed nuclear weapons.
"Things just wear out, and it becomes more expensive to maintain them than to replace them," Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said in a statement. "We need to cost-effectively modernize."
Boeing and Northrop Grumman both won contracts on Monday for the next phase of the US Air Force's Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent program to replace its Minuteman III missiles
Boeing and Northrop Grumman have received $349.2 million and $328.6 million contracts respectively for the development of the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent replacement for the LGM-30G Minuteman III ballistic missile, according to UPI.
Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin have all been competing to develop the new missile. The newly announced contracts leave Lockheed Martin out of the race. The contracts will run until mid-2020 when one of the two companies will be selected to finish the program. The Pentagon is expected to order over 400 missiles.
The deals come amid nuclear threats against the US by North Korea and increased tension with Russia, which is upgrading its ICBMs, Defense One adds.
The Ground Based Strategic Deterrent is the US Air Force effort to replace the old Minuteman III ICBM which is nearing the end of its effective lifespan.
Variants of the Minuteman series of ICBMs have been in service since the early 1960s. Much of its components are over 50 years old, and the Air Force says a replacement is vital to maintaining the US nuclear "triad" of ground, air and sea deployed nuclear weapons.
"Things just wear out, and it becomes more expensive to maintain them than to replace them," Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said in a statement. "We need to cost-effectively modernize."
