USAF issues multibillion-dollar Minuteman III support contract

Northrop Grumman has picked up an IDIQ contract worth up to $3.86 billion from the US Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, to continue ground subsystems support for the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile.

‘This contract provides for sustaining engineering, maintenance engineering, test and assessment, modification of systems and equipment, software maintenance, developmental engineering, production engineering, repair and procurement,’ the DoD announced on 7 July.

Work will be performed at six USAF bases for completion by July 2039.

Northrop Grumman announced on 10 June a $287 million baseline deal from the USAF to provide additional engineering sustainment services for Minuteman III  under the Propulsion Subsystem Support Contract (PSSC) 2.0.

The work supports the USAF Minuteman III Systems Directorate at Hill Air Force Base, Utah.

PSSC 2.0 has a contract ceiling of $2.31 billion plus options over a period of 18.5 years.

An eventual replacement for Minuteman called the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD), also developed by Northrop Grumman, is planned to achieve IOC in 2029.

The FY2022 US DoD budget request includes $10.89 million for GBSD-related procurement and $57.79 million for ‘replacement ballistic missile equipment’.