The Air Force will take steps to ensure its Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles can keep operating while the new Sentinel ICBM is delayed—but the moves won’t constitute a service life extension program, Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Integration Lt. Gen. ...
The Pentagon certified the Air Force’s Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile program to continue despite 81 percent cost growth after a six-month review determined there are no other acceptable alternatives. Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment William LaPlante announced the decision, but did not say ...
The Air Force and Lockheed Martin announced their first test of a new reentry vehicle that is planned to go atop the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile. The operational test launch of an unarmed Mk21A took place late June 17 at Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif. ...
The Senate Armed Service Committee's mark of the 2025 defense policy bill includes 17 programmatic changes or demands for reports or assessments focused on strengthening the nation’s nuclear arsenal, as deterrence becomes a multipolar competition requiring new thinking.
In a world where nuclear weapons continue to proliferate, it’s easy to forget sometimes that our own nuclear readiness is a foundational element of our national security. Indeed, it is every bit as vital to national security today as it was during the Cold War, ...
No matter what happens with the Nunn-McCurdy review of the Sentinel ICBM program, the nation must have a land-based element of its nuclear triad, Pentagon acquisition and sustainment chief William LaPlante told the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee.
The new Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile being developed by the Air Force and Northrop Grumman will cost 37 percent more than expected and take at least two years longer than previous projections before achieving initial operational capability—compelling the service to extend the life of some ...
A test of the LGM-35A Sentinel ICBM’s second stage rocket motor in a vacuum chamber was successful and will help the company validate performance predictions made in its digital design, the company announced.
The head of a new office created to oversee the modernization of the Air Force’s intercontinental ballistic missile fleet said he expects to receive a schedule update on the Sentinel program “at the end of the year” from contractor Northrop Grumman. Brig. Gen. Colin J. Connor, ...
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.
An unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile flying over the Pacific Ocean was effectively terminated by Space Launch Delta 30 on Nov. 1.
The Air Force has given Lockheed Martin a $996 million contract to produce a reentry vehicle (RV) for its new Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile by Oct. 20, 2039.