Secretary of the Air Force-nominee Troy Meink says that the future LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile by Northrop Grumman is needed for deterrence.
“The ground leg of the nuclear triad–Minuteman III and, over time, Sentinel–are foundational to strategic deterrence and defense of the homeland,” he wrote in written answers to the Senate Armed Services Committee before his nomination hearing March 27. “If confirmed, I commit to exploring ways in which the program may be able to regain schedule and reduce cost.”
On Jan. 18 last year, the Air Force said it notified Congress that Sentinel had breached Nunn-McCurdy cost guidelines, primarily due to construction design changes, and then DoD acquisition chief William LaPlante ordered a root-cause analysis. The latter led last summer to the DoD decision to continue the program, due to its stated importance to strategic deterrence, but also to the rescinding of the Sentinel Milestone B engineering and manufacturing development go-ahead from 2020.
In response to a question from Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) at his nomination hearing, Meink said that he would seek to apply lessons learned from the Nunn-McCurdy breach and would seek to accelerate Sentinel fielding.
In addition to Sentinel, Meink told the Senate panel that if confirmed, review the service’s modernization and readiness needs and costs.
The Air Force is modernizing or assessing modernization needs across its core mission areas, including fighter aircraft, and the bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile legs of the nuclear triad.
“One of the first things I plan to do is take a holistic look at all of the modernization and all the readiness bills that we have coming, and then I will put together and advocate for what resources I think are necessary to execute all of those missions,” Meink told the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing.
Exchange Monitor affiliate Defense Daily contributed to this story.
