Northrop Grumman [NOC] said on Jan. 16 that it has conducted a live, static-fire test of a stage-two solid rocket motor (SRM) for the LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile at the U.S. Air Force Arnold Engineering Development Complex in Tullahoma, Tenn.
“The test was conducted in a vacuum chamber simulating real-world environmental conditions the solid-rocket motor would experience during high-altitude and space flight,” Northrop Grumman said. “Test data will be analyzed to determine how motor performance matched digitally engineered model predictions, critical to maturing the design and lowering risk. Following this development effort, Northrop Grumman will begin a series of rocket motor qualification testing for both stages.”
Northrop Grumman is the Air Force’s Sentinel prime contractor and is responsible for building the SRM for Sentinel stages one and two, while L3Harris Technologies
[LHX] is to build the third stage motor.
Sarah Willoughby, Northrop Grumman’s vice president and program manager for Sentinel, said in a statement that the stage-two solid rocket motor test moves the company “forward for qualification testing in partnership with the Air Force.”
“The test’s data gives us an accurate reading of our design’s performance and now informs our modeling and designs,” she said.
Northrop Grumman said last March that it had tested the first stage motor at the company’s Promontory, Utah site (Defense Daily, March 6, 2023).
Sentinel is to achieve initial operational capability (IOC) in May 2029 to begin replacing the 400 Boeing [BA]-built Minuteman IIIs.
The Air Force missed its target date of starting Sentinel flight testing by the end of 2023, and Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told the House Armed Services Committee last April that it will be a challenge for Sentinel to reach IOC on time (Defense Daily, Apr. 27, 2023).