Boeing announced Tuesday that it has delivered upgraded cryptography devices for the nation’s Minuteman III ICBMs. This equipment, which will be installed at F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo., Malmstrom AFB, Mont., and Minot AFB, N.D., will provide enhanced communications security between the Minuteman launch control centers and launch facilities. “Enabling the Air Force to install these units is a vital step as we work together to enhance the security of this important nuclear deterrent,” said Peggy Morse, director of Boeing Strategic Missile Systems. Boeing supplied these devices to Northrop Grumman, the Air Force’s prime contractor for Minuteman III modernization. They are part of the ICBM cryptography upgrade program, one of the initiatives underway to keep the Minuteman III viable as a weapon system out to 2020 or beyond.
A legislative standoff has led to a lapse in a $4.26 billion small business innovation contracting program widely used by the Air Force and could spell the end of it entirely, industry sources warned Air & Space Forces Magazine.
