WASHINGTON — Northrop Grumman on Tuesday announced it successfully test fired the second-stage solid-rocket motor for the LGM-35A Sentinel nuclear missile now under development.
The complete-scale static fire test was carried out in a vacuum chamber on the U.S. Air Force’s Arnold Engineering Development Complex in Tennessee, which Northrop said simulated the high-altitude and space flight conditions the intercontinental ballistic missile’s rocket motor would encounter during an actual launch.
The corporate said it should study the info from this test to find out how well the motor’s actual performance matched predictions made in digitally engineered models, because it goals to rein in risks facing this system.
“The test’s data gives us an accurate reading of our design’s performance and now informs our modeling and designs,” said Sarah Willoughby, a Northrop Grumman vp and Sentinel program manager. “This lowers risk and builds confidence in our approach to deliver the next-generation ICBM capability to the Air Force.”
Sentinel is the Air Force’s program to construct a brand new nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missile to succeed the aging LGM-30G Minuteman III. This system is anticipated to cost a complete of about $100 billion. Northrop Grumman received a $13.3 billion contract in 2020 to construct Sentinel, which is now within the engineering, manufacturing and development phase.
However the Government Accountability Office in June 2023 reported this system was experiencing staffing shortfalls, supply chain issues and software challenges that might cause the weapon’s rollout to slide from 2029 to roughly spring of 2030.
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall also said during a November 2023 discussion that Sentinel is “struggling” and he’s “more nervous” about its development than the B-21 Raider stealth bomber, also built by Northrop. Kendall also said Sentinel’s costs may rise.
The sheer scale and complexity of Sentinel is daunting, Kendall said, and is “probably the most important thing … that the Air Force has ever taken on.” This system includes not only the production of the missile itself, but in addition real estate development, civil engineering, and the creation of each communications and command-and-control infrastructure, corresponding to the complexes missileers would use to launch the weapons.
Northrop now plans to start out a series of rocket motor qualification tests, alongside the Air Force, for each the primary and second stages of the three-stage missile. The firm previously announced in early 2023 it had conducted a static test of the missile’s first-stage motor and hypersonic wind tunnel tests to validate its design.
Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.