Brian Bradley
NS&D Monitor
8/29/2014
Northrop Grumman has been awarded a sole-source contract modification that will assist the United States SSBN program in becoming New START compliant. The Defense Department Monday announced a $7.6 million addition to a $113-million firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-incentive-fee/cost-plus-fixed-fee contract awarded to Northrop Grumman in December. Part of a larger effort to improve the Advanced Launcher Development Program and modernize the existing Trident II Underwater Launcher System, the contracts will produce hardware for missile tube closure as well as specialized technical support for Trident II New START efforts, said Navy Strategic Systems Programs spokesperson John Daniels. The modification will also improve the missile temperature monitoring capability of the SSBNs and produce hardware for UK submarines’ deep maintenance period, or refitting.
Slated for completion in September 2018, the entire project will convert four launch tubes on each of the 14 SSBNs, thereby erasing them from New START accountability, Daniels said. The modification will also entail a refresh of the firing circuit on today’s obsolete Launcher Subsystem. The new firing circuit is intended to serve as the baseline design for the Ohio Replacement Program. For the modification, the Navy will pay $1.6 million from its Fiscal Year 2014 weapons procurement budget and $5.6 million from other procurement funds, while the U.K. will provide $385,000 from its FY 2014 contract budget. None of the funding will expire this fiscal year. Including the base period and one option year, the maximum allowed contract value is $220,288,791.
