Rather than a test silo, the Air Force will use a launch pad at Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., for the first flight test of an unarmed LGM-35A Sentinel missile by Northrop Grumman.
“The first flight test was moved to a pad launch to allow for a more incremental approach to flight testing,” the Air Force said Wednesday Nov. 5 in response to email questions by Exchange Monitor affiliate Defense Daily. “The flight test dates will be confirmed as the Air Force restructures the program and updates the acquisition strategy.”
The Government Accountability Office said in a report earlier this year that the Air Force has delayed the first flight test of the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) from this year until 2028, but Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Integration Lt. Gen. Andrew Gebara said in August that the first Sentinel flight test would be “well prior to” 2028.
Initial operational capability for Sentinel was May 2029, but that has shifted to the end of 2033. The 659 Sentinel missiles–including 25 for test–are to replace 450 Boeing Minuteman IIIs–400 deployed and 50 reserve–fielded in the 1970s. The Air Force will likely have a mixed fleet of Sentinel missiles and Minuteman IIIs initially.
Air Force options include sustaining Minuteman III until 2050, but the Air Force said that it is considering removing the final Minuteman III long before then.
The Sentinel silos are to be new rather than refurbished Minuteman silos as the Air Force had planned, in part because of the larger Sentinel. This year, the Air Force used a former ICBM silo, Launch Facility 04 (LF 04), at Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., to inform its analysis.
For unarmed Minuteman III test launches, the Air Force has used test silos at Vandenberg. The latest such test was last week during which the 625th Strategic Operations Squadron used the Airborne Launch Control System from aboard a U.S. Navy E-6B Mercury aircraft, according to Air Force Global Strike Command.
Exchange Monitor affiliate Defense Daily first published a version of this story.