Delivery Systems & Nuclear Triad

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 5/1/2015 While analysts have suggested that the losing bidder for the Long Range Strike-Bomber program may exit the combat aircraft business or be a target for acquisition, the CEO for Northrop Grumman, one of the two bidders, appeared to downplay such concerns this week, saying a win would bring one more […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 4/24/2015 Congress would increase oversight of the Long Range Strike-Bomber (LRSB) program if legislation reported to the full House Armed Services Committee this week makes its way into the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, and is approved afterward. The last section of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 4/24/2015 Air Force Global Strike Command plans to start in May removing 50 Minuteman 3 boosters from launch facilities across the missile fleet in compliance with the New START Treaty, though it is unclear if and how, exactly, that will impact procurement of the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD). AFGSC Commander Lt. […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 4/24/2015 The Air Force plans to release an RFP for re-engining the B-52 this summer, and is planning to convert some of the planes to tankers, a top service official said this week. “We think we’ll have some data to be able to go forward this summer” with an RFP, Lt. […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 4/24/2015 The Nuclear Enterprise reviews completed last year showed that the triad is running at a $9 to $25 billion recapitalization and sustainment deficit—not including bombers and ballistic missile submarines—a shortfall that will take “years” to fix, a top National Nuclear Security Administration official told Senators April 22. “We did not […]

The Nuclear Enterprise reviews completed last year showed that the triad is running at a $9 to $25 billion recapitalization and sustainment deficit—not including bombers and ballistic missile submarines—a shortfall that will take “years” to fix, a top National Nuclear Security Administration official told Senators yesterday. “We did not evaluate any of the replacement programs […]

The Air Force plans to release an RFP for re-engining the B-52 this summer, and could convert some of the planes into tankers, a top service official said yesterday. “We think we’ll have some data to be able to go forward this summer” with an RFP, Lt. Gen. Stephen Wilson, commander of Air Force Global […]

Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh have directed the realignment of the Long Range Strike-Bomber program from Air Combat Command to Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC), effective Oct. 1, according to an April 20 service press release. The move will coordinate the service’s core mission of global […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 4/17/2015 The forthcoming contract award for the Long Range Strike-Bomber (LRSB) could impact the losing team’s different business divisions, and handicap that team’s influence on Capitol Hill, according to industry experts. For Boeing, a loss could even precipitate an exit from the defense aircraft market, one official said. “They’ve lost so […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 4/17/2015 The Defense Department can’t afford to build the Ohio-class Replacement (OR), the long range strike-bomber, the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent, the long-range standoff weapon, the Pentagon’s top weapons buyer said this week. Frank Kendall, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics said the nuclear triad modernization will cost about […]

After the November Nuclear Enterprise Reviews (NER) found investment shortfalls in nuclear forces, the Navy is requesting an additional $407 million for its leg of the nuclear triad in Fiscal Year 2016, and $2.2 billion over the Future Years’ Defense Program, the chief of Navy’s strategic missile force stated yesterday in written testimony to House […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 4/10/2015 The Defense Department plans to compete individual upgrades for the long-range strike bomber (LRSB), Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Frank Kendall said during a Pentagon press briefing April 9. “I think we will have opportunity to compete technologies that can go into the bomber to a […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 4/3/2015 Senior Air Force leaders met this week to discuss nuclear command and control (C2) and how it fits in with national command and control structure as part of an ongoing quarterly roundtable aimed at discussing issues in the nuclear enterprise, the service’s top enlisted official said during a breakfast speech […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 4/3/2015 Navy Strategic Systems Programs (SSP) awarded Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training a not-to-exceed $59 million undefinitized sole-source contract action for Trident 2 D5 Navigation Subsystem Strategic Systems Program Shipboard Integration (SSI) Increment 4, Increment 8 Inertial and Non-Inertial efforts, according to a March 31 Defense Department announcement. The Navy […]

Navy Strategic Systems Programs has awarded Lockheed Martin Space Systems a sole-source “not-to-exceed” $59 million undefinitized contract action for Trident 2 D5 Navigation Subsystem Strategic Systems Program Shipboard Integration Increment and Increment 8 Inertial and Non-Inertial efforts, according to a Defense Department announcement made yesterday. Work will be performed in Mitchell Field, N.Y., Oldsmar, Fla., […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 3/27/2015 The Air Force is building a team to look at the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent and how much of the intercontinental ballistic missile enterprise needs to be recapitalized, Lt. Gen. Mike Holmes, Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Plans and Requirements said this week. The review could have implications on force […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 3/27/2015 Since the Air Force on Jan. 8 announced Boeing the winner of the Minuteman 3 Guidance Subsystem contract under a newly established, government-managed contracting structure for intercontinental ballistic missiles, the company has been working to replace a 40-plus-year-old technology on the weapons that includes instrumentation for flight tests, command destruct, […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 3/27/2015 OGDEN, UTAH – Collaboration between the Air Force ICBM System Program Office and Navy Strategic System Programs (SSP) looks promising, Michael Maglich, SSP Technical Director/Deputy Direct Reporting Program Manager, said last week here at the TRIAD conference. “I think we have a common forcing function, the budget, that we didn’t […]

Today is the deadline for members of Congress to sign a letter that Reps. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) and Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) are sending to House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen and Ranking Member Pete Visclosky requesting support for procurement of undersea platforms, including the Ohio-class Replacement, according to a notice released by the […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 3/20/2015 As weapon systems in the U.S. nuclear triad age out of their service lives in the next few decades, the full House Armed Services Committee will look more closely at modernization, committee Chair Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) said this week. “I’m afraid we have grown somewhat complacent about the importance […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 3/20/2015 OGDEN, UTAH—The Defense Department might be forced to “look creatively” at funding the estimated $139 billion Ohio-class Replacement, including shifting money from other services, a top Navy official said March 19. “I don’t advocate that at all,” Rear Adm. Richard Breckenridge, Director of the Navy Warfare Integration Division (N91) said […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 3/20/2015 OGDEN, Utah —Almost two years after the Air Force began the Future ICBM Sustainment and Acquisition Construct (FISAC) and as life extension work continues on systems such as the B-52 and Trident D5, the private nuclear weapons industry is confronting issues related to parts obsolescence, supply chain, employee recruitment and […]

Pat Host Defense Daily 3/20/2015 The Air Force’s secretive and lucrative Long Range Strike Bomber (LRSB) program is progressing according to plan, according to a key service official. Assistant Air Force Secretary for Acquisition Bill LaPlante told a Senate panel March 19, when asked about an increase in the program’s unit cost, that the $550 […]

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh joined the three other service chiefs and all four military secretaries yesterday in pushing to the full House Armed Services Committee the military’s case to bust the Budget Control Act caps, specifically highlighting obsolete nuclear infrastructure and an aging bomber fleet. “We don’t have the B-52 in […]

While the Navy’s annual shipbuilding budget averages about $16 billion yearly, the Congressional Budget Office projects that the service’s 2015 shipbuilding plan would require a $5 billion average yearly plus-up over the next 30 years to support plans to build 12 Ohio-class Replacement (OR) submarines. According to a CBO report released Friday, a $16 billion […]

The House Armed Services Committee plans to spend more time analyzing U.S. strategic forces as debate about the Pentagon’s jam-packed nuclear modernization portfolio are brimming over the Strategic Forces Subcommittee level into full committee discussions, HASC Chairman Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) told reporters yesterday. “I am concerned about the nuclear triad…about all of these systems […]

Absent funding relief, construction of Ohio-class Replacement (OR) could pose challenges to the Navy’s 21st century seapower strategy, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert said on Friday. The Navy’s strategy involves building up to and commissioning 300 ships, and officials project that the estimated $139 billion OR program could eat up two-thirds of the […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 3/13/2015 The Air Force plans to award multiple contracts for the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent’s (GBSD’s) Technology Maturation and Risk Reduction (TMRR) phase, and will down-select for the Engineering & Manufacturing Development (EMD) phase, according to industry Q&As released March 9. The Air Force has not decided whether it will award the […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 3/13/2015 Will the Navy fund the Ohio-class Replacement (OR) through its shipbuilding budget, through a separate Navy fund, or through the larger Defense Department account? Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert on March 10 told Senators he wants to find a specific vehicle to appropriate money toward the Sea-Based Deterrence […]

The Air Force yesterday issues a presolicitation notice announcing its intent to award a sole-source contract to Boeing to update the fuselage for B-52s. “Alternate offerors must submit a Source Approval Request (SAR) package along with a completed copy of the solicitation in order to be considered for award,” the notice states.  The final contract award […]