As the Air Force considers when to hold its first flight test in its Northrop Grumman-developed Sentinel missile, Lockheed Martin has received a nearly $454 million contract add-on from the Air Force Nuclear Weapon Center at Hill Air Force Base, Utah.
The add-on is for the LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile’s (ICBM) Mk21A re-entry vehicle. The contract add-on, awarded this month, brings Lockheed Martin’s total award under Mk21A to nearly $1.5 billion. The company will do the contract work through September 2032 in King of Prussia, Penn.
Rather than an ICBM test silo, the Air Force is to use a launch pad at Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., for the first Sentinel flight test, the service said this month.
“The first flight test was moved to a pad launch to allow for a more incremental approach to flight testing,” the Air Force said. “The flight test dates will be confirmed as the Air Force restructures the program and updates the acquisition strategy.”
Exchange Monitor affiliate Defense Daily first published a version of this story.