The Air Force recently completed the preliminary design review (PDR) for the Northrop Grumman-developed Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) in late April.
The PDR took place April 28-30 and is the latest major programmatic milestone for the service to undertake virtually, including over classified computer networks, as many program personnel work limited hours or from home while adhering to state and local COVID-19 pandemic guidance.
“The PDR ensured Northrop Grumman’s design is sufficiently mature and ready to proceed into detailed design with acceptable risk, and will meet performance requirements within budget and on schedule,” Col. Jason Bartolomei, GBSD system program manager, said May 15 in a press release.
“Accomplishing this PDR is a huge success for the program, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic,” he added. “The GBSD team overcame many challenges to accomplish such a large, complex PDR for an Acquisition Category 1-D program. Our classified network and digital engineering capabilities were key to this milestone, but secondary to the hard-work and commitment of the entire organization.”
Northrop Grumman is the presumptive contractor to build and deploy the U.S. military’s next nuclear-armed, silo-based, intercontinental ballistic missiles, and the sole bidder for the $25 million engineering and manufacturing development contract, after Boeing quit the program in July 2019.
In April, a senior civilian Air Force official told the press the service wanted to award the engineering manufacturing and development contract in July or August: a little earlier than the end-of-fiscal-2020 date the Air Force floated last year.
The Air Force plans to procure more than 600 GBSD missiles, including spares and test units. It will begin fielding them over about nine years beginning in the late 2020s, replacing the 400 or so deployed Minuteman III missiles on a one-for-one-basis.
The Air Force requested $1.5 billion for GBSD engineering and development in the fiscal 2021 presidential budget request, released in February.
The first GBSD missiles might be deployed with W87-0 warheads that now tip some Minuteman III missiles, Charles Verdon, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s deputy administrator for defense programs, told Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor in March. The fleet will eventually use a mix of W87-0 warheads and planned W87-1 warheads, the latter of which are slated to use brand new pits made at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
This story first appeared in Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor affiliate publication Defense Daily.
