The Pentagon said that it is embarking on risk reduction on the Northrop Grumman [NOC] LGM-35A Sentinel program through an acceleration in the buy of test equipment for initial operational test and evaluation.
Pentagon acquisition chief William LaPlante “signed an Acquisition Decision Memo (ADM) regarding the Sentinel program on March 27, 2023,” DoD said on May 11. “The ADM approved prudent actions to reduce schedule and transition risk, specifically, accelerating the procurement of test assets needed for Initial Operational Test and Evaluation and Operational Weapon System Article ground assets. The Sentinel program continues to make progress. In fact, the program has started critical design reviews and successfully performed its first open air rocket motor static test. The department’s top priority is delivering the weapon system to meet the warfighter’s need date and we will continue to monitor the schedule.”
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told the House Armed Services Committee last month that it will be a challenge for Sentinel to reach initial operational capability (IOC) on time (Defense Daily, Apr. 27).
During the hearing, Kendall mentioned LaPlante’s recent adjustment to Sentinel and said the program “is trying to address all the possible ways that the program could get in trouble, not just the ones currently on the critical path, and trying to move forward as efficiently as possible.”
DoD has targeted Sentinel IOC for May 2029. Kendall is not permitted to make decisions on Sentinel because of his previous consulting work for Northrop Grumman.
A Selected Acquisition Report released last year noted that the Sentinel program, previously known as the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent, has had schedule difficulties related to cleared personnel staffing, classified information technology infrastructure, and booster electronics development.
In March, Northrop Grumman said that it had recently completed the first full-scale static test of a Sentinel solid rocket motor at the company’s test facility in Promontory, Utah, as the company readies for possible first flight of a Sentinel prototype this year (Defense Daily, March 16).
A Defense Department report sent to Congress in September indicated a possible 10-month delay in the estimated $95.8 billion Sentinel development effort, yet Air Force Brig. Gen. Ty Neuman, the service’s director of concepts, said in February that Northrop Grumman is still on track to perform a full-scale inaugural flight test this year.
Sentinel features a three-stage booster rocket. Northrop Grumman, which has an in-house solid rocket motor business, will make the missile’s first- and second-stage solid motors.
Aerojet Rocketdyne [AJRD] will make the third-stage motor.
Sentinel will initially carry the W87-0 thermonuclear warhead, refurbished versions of the W87 from the Minuteman missiles it will replace. Later in its fielding, the new missiles will be tipped with the W87-1 warhead, a newly manufactured copy of the Minuteman’s W78 warhead, but with a fresh plutonium pit. The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory will provide both warheads.