Top Department of the Air Force leaders told lawmakers May 7 they need to divest aging aircraft to make room for more advanced systems, setting up a now familiar budget fight on Capitol Hill. “America cannot wait to modernize the Air Force any longer, not ...
If strategic deterrence fails, nothing else will work as intended, said U.S. Strategic Command boss Adm. Charles “Chas” A. Richard during a virtual Brookings Institution event on May 7. “Every operational plan in the Department of Defense, and every other capability we have in DOD, ...
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 ...
As the new administration and Congress prepare. to take a critical look at the nuclear triad and overall need for nuclear modernization, the head of U.S. Strategic Command warned lawmakers that a reduction in the overall force could mean a return to Cold War norms. ...
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 ...
Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., is the preferred location for the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent Formal Training Unit, Acting Air Force Secretary John P. Roth announced on April 1. “The Minuteman III weapon system has been a bedrock of U.S. national security for more than ...
Boeing announced April 1 it has delivered the first upgraded cryptography units to the Air Force to improve launch code security for the service’s intercontinental ballistic missiles. The upgraded units improve encryption for the codes, along with improving security by eliminating the need for in-person ...
The Missile Defense Agency on March 23 awarded Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin contracts worth a total of $7.6 billion to develop technology for the Next Generation Interceptor, which will replace aging ground-based interceptors and serve as the first layer of defense against intercontinental ballistic ...
Deterrence isn't what it used to be, and the U.S. will be in trouble against an array of new nuclear weapons not covered by treaty if it doesn't move ahead with nuclear weapon modernization, senior U.S. military leaders warned at AFA's virtual Aerospace Warfare Symposium.
Northrop Grumman’s design for a new nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile is moving forward after the Air Force signed off on the latest development milestone in November, the company announced Feb. 16. The company passed a benchmark known as the engineering and manufacturing development baseline review, ...
The head of U.S. Strategic Command said he welcomes a new review of nuclear policy, but extending the life of the MInuteman III should not be considered. Experts have said the Air Force’s Ground Based Strategic Deterrent effort, the massive program to replace the Minuteman ...