Pentagon helps maintain stability on Sentinel nuclear missile as prices rise

The Army will continue development of its unused LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile, but has directed US Breeze Drive to restructure the program to get its ballooning costs under control.

The Pentagon noted in an overview that an “appropriately modified” model of the Northrop Grumman-built Sentinel would likely cost $140.9 billion, 81% more than the system’s latest price estimate of $77.7 billion. It said that if Sentinel continued on its flow path without changes, the potential cost would be approximately $160 billion.

And the Army hopes that the restructuring of this system will allow it to extend for many years.

“There are reasons for this cost increase, but there are no excuses,” William LaPlante, Under Secretary of Conservation for Acquisition and Maintenance, said in a conference call with Newshounds on Monday. “We fully appreciate the magnitude of the cost, but we also understand the risks of not modernizing our nuclear forces and not addressing the real threats we face.”

Sentinel is intended to replace Breeze Drive’s half-century-old Minuteman III nuclear missile, which is nearing the top of its speed. In January, Breeze Drive announced that Sentinel’s weekly prices were estimated to have trumped the funds enough to cause an evaluation process referred to as a significant Nunn-McCurdy violation.

One of these evaluations can sometimes lead to cancellation of a program. LaPlante said Monday that he considered running with Sentinel and later concluded that it met several criteria, including that it was critical to national security and that there were cheaper alternatives that would disrupt the military’s operations. Can meet the requirements.

On the other hand, big adjustments are coming for Sentinel. LaPlante canceled the Milestone B favor of this system, which licensed the system to travel in its engineering and production building segment, in September 2020. He additionally ordered Breeze Drive to reorganize its system to deal with the root causes of the fee increases and ensure it has the appropriate control structure in place to keep its week’s value from deteriorating.

The per-unit common value for Sentinel was initially $118 million in 2020, when its price, schedule and work objective were all determined. When the Nunn-McCurdy breach was announced in January, prices per unit rose a minimum of 37% to about $162 million.

Hunter noted the per-unit price for the revised Sentinel program — which includes elements including its missiles — is estimated to be about $214 million. He said the Pentagon’s Price Review and Program Analysis, or CAPE, office came up with an estimate with a 50% self-assurance level, meaning prices could ultimately be higher or lower.

Andrew Hunter, Breeze Drive’s acting secretary for acquisitions, technology and logistics, said he was on board with LaPlante’s decision and promised to prepare a plan over the next few months to restructure Sentinel and acquire an unused Milestone B side. Did. Hunter said the entire process of revising the program and getting its untested plan, price and timetable approved by the Pentagon would likely take 18 to 24 months.

command and creation

LaPlante and Hunter said most of the estimated overruns are likely coming from Sentinel’s command and construction department, with its missile silos and associated construction management facilities where Airmen demonstrate ICBMs. He said revamping that department could be a big part of Breeze Drive’s value management effort, as well as improving its systems engineering and changing how its assurance is structured. Could be a big part of.

LaPlante noted that the adjustments would come with “shrinking” manufacturing facilities to make them smaller, more efficient and more cost-effective. He said reducing decommissioned manufacturing facilities would also shorten the transition timeline from existing Minuteman III devices and unused Sentinel facilities.

Hunter said the unused Sentinel facilities will require additional communications infrastructure beyond the now 7,500 miles of copper cable to the Minuteman silos and manufacturing facilities. He noted that the deliberate changes to the Breeze drive in Sentinel come with additional cheaper technologies to make this work.

In an overview, Northrop Grumman noted that it is “making significant progress on this highly complex weapon system,” and missed the milestones to mature its design and leave a chance to arrange manufacturing and deployment going forward. Moving forward to reach.

Northrop said those milestones include designing and building Sentinel’s facilities, support equipment and missile, and assessing elements such as its nose cone and three booster stages.

“We continue to meet and exceed our commitments under the EMD contract as we move toward delivery of this essential national security capability,” Northrop Grumman said.

LaPlante noted that in “hindsight”, the branch initially did not have enough information about how sophisticated Sentinel’s ground-based programs could be to accurately estimate its costs. He said that in about four years, the Pentagon has much better data available.

Hunter said Breeze Drive also established a committee chaired by its senior leaders to oversee its nuclear project, including its bombers, ICBMs and command-and-control. and the branch dedicating a program executive officer to be responsible for ICBMs, establishing a nuclear program center, and transitioning the management of the Breeze Drive Nuclear Guns Center from a two-star average to a three-star average, They said.

Hunter said Breeze Drive “will make every effort to maintain the Minuteman III to meet these warfighter requirements in the interim.”

General Jim Sliff, vice president of staff at Breeze Drive, said Sentinel’s value is not expected to increase during the next five years, and the most difficult decision on what to shorten will not be made. Later the unused baseline of this system is prepared.

Sliff noted, “This is a decision for the future, to decide what business we need to do.”