Boeing announced Feb. 10 that it has delivered the final upgraded missile guidance set for the Minuteman III ICBM to the Air Force. The delivery occurred in December, two months ahead of schedule, and capped nearly seven years of consecutive on-time or early deliveries, the company said. Working with MMIII prime contractor Northrop Grumman, Boeing began providing the MGS units in the late 1990s under the Air Force’s guidance replacement program, which set out to replace the missile’s 1970s-vintage navigational electronics and extend the viability of the Minuteman III out to 2020. “The GRP has grown to be one of the most successful programs in the Air Force,” Sam McCrea, USAF’s acting program manager for the program, states in Boeing’s release. (For more on Minuteman III modernization, read Making It Without a Minuteman IV.)
The U.S. began extensive air and artillery strikes against Islamic State group targets in Syria on Dec. 19 in retaliation for the killing of three Americans on Dec. 13 by a gunman affiliated with ISIS, U.S. officials said.
