The House Appropriations Committee’s mark of the 2025 defense bill would strip $324 million from the Air Force's budget request for the Sentinel ICBM. The committee also wants longer tenure for program leaders and an evaluation of making at least some of the force road-mobile.
The new Sentinel ICBM program is “struggling a little bit” because of its complexity, involving system development, a new communications system, civil engineering, and real estate, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said. He has more optimism about the B-21 bomber than the Sentinel, he added.
To achieve the Sentinel ICBMS's ambitious initial operational service date, the Air Force and Office of the Secretary of Defense have accelerated some steps to add margin to a program with little to spare.
The Pentagon’s newly installed acquisition czar is planning “deep dives” into efforts to modernize each leg of the nuclear triad, starting with the program he views as having the most significant risk—the Air Force's LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile, known until recently as the Ground ...
The Air Force unveiled a name and designation for the intercontinental ballistic missile system long known as the Ground-based Strategic Deterrent: LGM-35A Sentinel. The Sentinel is set to replace the Minuteman III as the land leg of the U.S. nuclear triad, beginning with initial operational ...
Budget compromises driven by the need to modernize two-thirds of the nuclear triad forced Air Force leaders to cut planned F-35 purchases in 2023 to just 33—15 fewer than it bought in fiscal 2022 and 27 fewer than 2021, said Lt. Gen. David S. Nahom, ...
Lt. Gen. Jim Dawkins, Air Force deputy chief of staff for strategic deterrence and nuclear integration, hosts Jim Kowalski, vice president and corporate lead executive of Air Force Customer Relations Team at Northrop Grumman; Paul Ferraro, president of airpower at Raytheon Missiles and Defense; and ...
Russia's invasion of Ukraine and China's growing strategic arsenal have "pretty well put to bed" the debate over whether the U.S. should preserve all three legs of the nuclear triad, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said. Although he would not discuss particulars about the unreleased ...
A new report by the RAND Corp. cites support from the White House and Congress for modernizing the nuclear triad, but its authors also offer a stark warning to the Air Force, which owns two of the triad’s three legs—to “not take this support for ...
Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles are now over 50 years old, and the time to transition to the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent, a full ICBM weapon system replacement, is getting close. The need for optimized sustainment and readiness on Minuteman III is critical as the ...
A raft of strategy and posture reviews are coming in 2022 that will significantly shape the Air Force, even as the service is slated to make major strides on programs and conduct critical tests. The B-21 is expected to take to the air mid-year, and ...
Adm. Christopher W. Grady, nominee to be vice chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Senators during his Dec. 8 confirmation hearing that the Pentagon needs to be prepared to deal with “two nuclear peer competitors," calling China’s rapid growth of its nuclear capabilities ...