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.”