Northrop Grumman wins next generation ICBM

[chopper2004]

40/50 year old Minuteman III ICBMs going to be replaced as Northrop-Grumman has contract to design and build next generation of ICBMs to replace the 400 odd scattered across three states in silos.

https://www.airforcemag.com/northrop...ild-new-icbms/

cheers

[ORAC]

Northrop definitely seems on the way up and Boeing on the way down of late.

[Asturias56]

Welllll - the US armed forces are as interested as anyone else in not having a sole supplier - Boeing get a good run you can bet LM or Northrop will get the next big contract

TTBH they have much the same capabilities and so it's just a matter of adjusting the spec to slightly favour one or other of the deserving - Boeing refused to bid as they reckoned it was going to Northrop anyway

[Martin the Martian]

Was it Northrop Grumman's turn?

[Fonsini]

I wonder if we will have the same go-around regarding the vulnerability of silo basing that we saw during development of the otherwise excellent (but very pricey) LGM-118A. Just my 2 cents but the money would be better spent on the Columbia class project, and Northrop is already getting more than enough moolah from the Air Force for the B-21, it’s time to give up the silo launched missiles and move on.

[etudiant]

Originally Posted by Asturias56

Welllll - the US armed forces are as interested as anyone else in not having a sole supplier - Boeing get a good run you can bet LM or Northrop will get the next big contract

TTBH they have much the same capabilities and so it's just a matter of adjusting the spec to slightly favour one or other of the deserving - Boeing refused to bid as they reckoned it was going to Northrop anyway

Afaik they both used Aerojet as their rocket motor supplier, so when Northrop bought Aerojet, Boeing wanted to redo their proposal but the USAF refused to delay the competition.
The sad thing is that the Space-X example shows that the corporate overhead at least triples the cost of US aerospace products. Continuing such monopoly procurements is demonstrably the best way to minimize military purchasing power.