The Air Force will extend development of the AGM-181A Long-Range Stand-Off missile by a year, possibly to comply with budget reductions from the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
U.S. Strategic Command is facing “low margin transition” with its triad of air, land, and underwater nuclear forces being modernized simultaneously, officials say. ”I think we as a nation understand that it's not a ‘Should we?’ It’s a ‘We must,’” STRATCOM commander Gen. Anthony J. ...
The cost of the nuclear AGM-181 Long-Range Stand Off missile has come down slightly and the program is on track, but several technologies it relies on are still considered immature, the Government Accountability Office found in a report. Meanwhile, the GAO also assessed the LGM-35A ...
Manpower, material, and funding remain the foundation—and a key concern—for the Air Force’s top-to-bottom nuclear modernization effort, a pair of top generals said Jan. 24. That modernization effort covers everything from personnel to weapons systems to entire facilities, and the service must execute this massive ...
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. highlighted the “catastrophic” implications if the Air Force does not change fast enough to keep up with China but added that recent public information about China’s buildup of intercontinental ballistic missile silos will help generate ...
The Air Force has awarded a $2 billion contract to Raytheon Missiles and Defense to engineer and develop the Long Range Standoff weapon system, the service’s next-generation air-launched nuclear missile. The deal, announced July 1, is for the engineering and manufacturing development phase and is ...
The two-war force-sizing construct should be restored in the next National Defense Strategy being developed by the Biden administration, according to a new paper from the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. The authors argued that a one-war capacity invites adversaries to take advantage of U.S. ...
An unarmed Minuteman III test launch was aborted May 5 when the missile’s computer detected a fault during its terminal countdown and stopped the launch process, Air Force Global Strike Command said in a statement. The Air Force regularly tests its ICBM fleet with launches ...
With upcoming budget deliberations and an expected Nuclear Posture Review, Air Force and U.S. Strategic Command leaders are making the case that the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent is a critical program and is actually cheaper than extending the life of the aging Minuteman III. Other modernization ...
The nuclear enterprise is built on trust and experience. Sustaining and modernizing that enterprise is a delicate business. Darrell Graddy, president of Integrated ICBM Support Services, a joint venture company formed by Leidos, Amentum, and Apex, shares a vision for sustaining ICBM systems today and ...
Northrop Grumman successfully completed the integrated baseline review for the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent program, which is on track for initial operational capability by 2029. The integrated baseline review sets the cost and schedule baseline, identifies risk, and ensures there are mitigation plans ready for ...
NATO defense ministers on June 17 agreed on three measures aimed at countering Russia’s “extensive and growing arsenal of nuclear-capable missiles during the first of a two-day meeting held via secure teleconference due to the new coronavirus pandemic, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said. The ...