USAF explores possible Minuteman III development, operations, sustainment program

The U.S. Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center may hold an industry day in late August to gauge industry capacity to support a possible intercontinental ballistic missile Development, Operations, and Sustainment program for the Boeing Minuteman III (MMIII).

The industry day would be held at Hill Air Force Base (AFB), Utah. Such a contract would “ensure continued operational readiness, availability, reliability, and maintainability of the MMIII weapon system and associated programs through end of life,” according to a Friday business notice.

“The MMIII weapon system is tracked through a work breakdown structure with about 2,800 individual risk-rated line items listed/monitored with up to 125 product support initiatives tracked annually across approximately 65 working groups,” the notice said.

The Air Force has said that extending the life of the 1970s-era Minuteman III’s long-term is not “viable” and that the service plans to replace the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) with Sentinel in the 2030s.

In April, a Congressional Budget Office study estimated that Pentagon nuclear modernization would cost at least $946 billion between this year and 2034—a projection that does not include “significant additional increase in costs” that may stem from a restructuring of the program to replace MMIII–the Northrop Grumman LGM-35A Sentinel– and delays that are to come with Air Force efforts to reduce costs after the service notified Congress of a Nunn-McCurdy critical cost breach for Sentinel in January last year. 

Sentinel’s estimated cost has more than doubled to $140 billion, and this month’s annual Government Accountability Office weapons systems assessment said that costs could easily reach $170 billion in fiscal 2025 dollars.

A version of this story first ran in Exchange Monitor affiliate Defense Daily