The Air Force recently awarded contracts related to its intercontinental ballistic missile systems.
On. Feb. 22, the Air Force awarded a $405,366,978 indefinite-delivery/
The contract is for operations, maintenance and testing in support of the Minuteman III weapons system.
The modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $559,366,978.
The work will be performed at the Little Mountain Test Facility in Ogden, Utah.
The contract indicates the work is expected to be completed by Feb. 28, 2029.
To start, $10,390,105 of current Air Force operation and maintenance funds have been obligated, according to the Air Force.
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The contract is through the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center at Hill Air Force Base in Utah.
The contract is an indication that the Air Force is maintaining the Minuteman system as it works to implement the new Sentinel ICBM system that isn’t expected to be operational until spring of 2030.
In April 2022, the Air Force awarded a $20,951,344 undefinitized contract action for the Flight Test Telemetry Termination production requirements contract to Boeing.
That contract is to produce and deliver FT3 Systems that will provide telemetry data, command destruct capabilities and GPS as well as replace/update obsolete and unsupportable flight test unique equipment to support the operational test launch schedule for the Minuteman III.
Under the contract, that work is expected to be completed by April 30, 2030.
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In 2021, the Air Force awarded a $1.6 million contract to Boeing for continued support for the Minuteman’s guidance system in an 18-year sole-source contract.
The Air Force is also awarding contracts for the Sentinel program as it progresses.
On Feb. 16, the Air Force awarded a $23,803,200 firm-fixed-price contract to McKinsey and Co. of Washington, D.C. to “assess the health of the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center’s Sentinel program’s industrial base,” according to the Air Force.
The work will be completed at the contractor’s D.C. office and at Hill AFB where the AFNWC is located.
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The contract includes a base period of work to be completed by July 15 and two optional periods for additional analysis and reporting, which if both are executed, will be completed by March 18, 2026.
The contract was awarded through a competitive acquisition under Commercial Solutions Opening and one white paper was received for the relevant topic, according to the Air Force.
Under the current Air Force budget, $5,005,500 of research, development, test and evaluation funds have been obligated.
On Feb. 7, the Air Force awarded a $13,619,953 commercial, fixed-firm-price contract to Roundhouse PBN, LLC of Colorado Springs, Colo. for a temporary and relocatable program integration office/program management office facility for the Sentinel program at F. E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming.
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The contract provides for a one-time procurement for a secure, prefabricated, nominal 26,000-square-foot temporary facility, that will satisfy immediate requirements for additional office space for up to 200 Sentinel project personnel, according to the contract announcement.
It’s a commercial supply contract to procure a facility and furnishings, with a limited construction service component to conduct site preparation, according to the Air Force.
Work will be performed at F.E. Warren AFB and is expected to be completed by Feb. 7, 2025.
F.E. is the first missile base to get the Sentinel system. Malmstrom is scheduled to go second, followed by Minot AFB in North Dakota.
The Air Force is replacing the aging Minuteman III ICBM system with Sentinel.
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ICBMs are the land-based component of the U.S. nuclear triad, which also includes nuclear submarines and bomber planes. Those legs of the triad are also undergoing modernization programs.
In mid-January, Air Force officials informed Congress that the Sentinel program is now estimated to cost at least 37 percent more than the projected $96 billion, which triggered the Nunn-McCurdy Act, meaning Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has to certify the program to stop it from being canceled.
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The new estimate sent to Congress in mid-January put the cost of Sentinel to as much as $162 million per missile when calculated in 2020 dollars, up from $118 million each, according to a Bloomberg report.
The total cost estimate is now $131.5 billion, Bloomberg reported.
Components and subsystems of Minuteman have been upgraded since it first became operational in the early 1970s but most of the fundamental infrastructure uses the original equipment, according to the Air Force.
The land-based nuclear deterrent ICBM system includes 400 deployed missiles, 450 silos and more than 600 facilities across nearly 40,000 square miles over six states, three operational wings and a test location.
