The Air Force's Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent program has passed its preliminary design review, clearing the way for an award of the engineering and manufacturing development contract by the end of September. If all goes as planned, the new intercontinental ballistic missiles will be deployed to ...
The Air Force expects to lose confidence in the full viability of its 400 intercontinental ballistic missiles starting in 2026, three years before replacement nuclear missiles start entering the ground, according to a new Government Accountability Office report.“ According to Air Force officials, as a ...
A touted $30 billion realignment of the Air Force's budget, with some wholesale retirements of major systems, did not materialize in the spending documents released Feb. 10. Instead, the Air Force is reducing its operational fleet to pay for technology upgrades emphasizing connectivity, agile logistics, ...
Air Force Global Strike Command on Feb. 10 held a no-notice leadership call at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming, following reports of marijuana use by security forces airmen tasked with protecting the base’s nuclear missile fields. “Our solemn duty is to protect this nation. ...
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif.—You see the intercontinental ballistic missile before you hear it. Upon ignition in its underground silo, the horizon blooms bright red-orange, and a ball of light rises west over the Pacific Ocean. A dull roar intensifies as the unarmed nuclear missile ...
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, CALIF.—Air Force Global Strike Command’s No. 2 officer said his organization is comfortable with how the next-generation land-based nuclear missile program is progressing despite having only Northrop Grumman involved in the design competition. “What we have seen so far is going ...
After a heated partisan fight over the Pentagon's nuclear modernization efforts, House and Senate authorizers agreed to let the Air Force's key strategic programs move forward relatively unscathed.
Boeing may be bowing out of the competition to build the next intercontinental ballistic missile, but the work it has accomplished so far could get new life under other programs. The defense giant revealed its concerns with the Air Force's Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent program over ...
An unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile launches during an operational test on Oct. 2, 2019, at Vandenberg AFB, Calif. Air Force photo by SSgt. J.T. Armstrong. Air Force Global Strike Command early Oct. 2 launched an unarmed Minuteman III...