Brian Bradley
NS&D Monitor
1/9/2015
The Air Force will host an Industry Day for the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD), the expected follow-on for the Minuteman 3, at Hill AFB in Utah from Feb. 18-20. Air Force Global Strike Command, Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center and the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Systems Directorate are sponsoring the classified event, whose attendance will be limited to the Defense Department and its contractors. The Industry Day will touch on the latest GBSD Capability Development Document including Key Performance Parameters and Key System Attributes for replacement of the ground leg of the nuclear triad, as well as the GBSD Acquisition Approach.
U.S. Strategic Command Vice Commander Lt. Gen. James Kowalski in September said development of the mobile-capable GBSD concept should start by the first half of Fiscal Year 2016, for a hopeful 2030 debut. “I think what we want to be able to do is develop a system that would give us an option later on to go back and revisit what is the right basing mode, and do we need to move this missile to another basing mode? Can we do that?” he said. “And how do we do that? Certainly with the system we have today, you can’t do that. So if we need to replace the system, we should probably build into it the flexibility to do some other things in the future that the current Minuteman can’t.”
The Industry Day will also include an open forum and one-on-one sessions. The Industry Day is open to four to five attendees per organization. Companies presenting PowerPoints are asked to bring five hard copies of their presentation on the day of their session. To foster Industry teaming opportunities, the Air Force is contemplating whether to hold scheduled sessions where Industry briefs one another on their capabilities or a no-host social, according to the announcement. The deadline to register is 5 p.m. Mountain Time on Feb. 3. More information can be found on FedBizOpps.
