Boeing on Tuesday said it responded to the Air Force’s request for proposal for the next-generation intercontinental ballistic missile system. The company, in a brief statement, said it created the first Minuteman ICBM almost 60 years ago “and we are ready to again offer an ICBM that will meet the Air Force mission requirements through 2075.” The Air Force released the RFP in early August, with a deadline of Wednesday. The service plans to award up to two cost-plus-fixed-fee contracts next summer, with eventual deployment in the late 2020s. The expected value of the program is about $62.3 billion. Lockheed Martin is expected to announce its proposal later this week. (See also: GBSD: The Biggest Operational Test Program Ever And Ground-Based Question Mark from the July issue of Air Force Magazine.)
Lockheed Martin projects more than a billion dollars of losses on a classified program, but company officials said April 23 they are confident it will turn profitable by 2028 and become a "franchise" system in the U.S. military.