Lockheed Martin said Thursday it began work in November on a $50 million contract to supply Minuteman III ICBM support technology.
The defense contractor secured the four-year, firm-fixed-price deal in June for seven sets of ICBM re-entry system equipment and four additional units of support gear, according to a Lockheed press release. The equipment will be employed in the Air Force’s testing and maintenance of its Minuteman III re-entry vehicles.
Lockheed has also received a $10.6 million extension for a present contract for weapon system re-entry system integration for ICBM vehicle integration and modernization. The contract is now worth close to $107 million over five years.
Lockheed Martin has a six-decade history of supplying ICBMs and re-entry vehicles to the Air Force, including a 2010 contract for production of advanced re-entry field gear. Two sets of that equipment have already been shipped to F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming.
The Air Force has 450 Minuteman III ICBMs deployed in silos in Montana, North Dakota, and Wyoming. Lockheed is one of the major defense companies bidding on contracts for the Air Force’s planned next-generation ICBM, now called the Ground-based Strategic Deterrent.
President-elect Donald Trump this week took aim at Lockheed Martin over the escalating cost of its F-35 fighter jet program.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has reversed its decision to propose that agency leadership encourage nuclear export license applicants to withhold certain information about those exports from the public, in a letter sent late last month.
The NRC letter was a response to an Oct. 11 email from Alan Kuperman, coordinator of the Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Project at the University of Texas at Austin, expressing concern over an internal NRC staff memorandum that proposed withholding some export information.
The Oct. 3 NRC memorandum suggested export applicants withhold information on “authorized quantities or actual inventories of radionuclides” above the given thresholds for Category 1 and 2 radioactive materials, mixed-oxide materials, and enriched uranium above 6 percent U-235. The NRC would release information on the radionuclides and form but would withhold “projected or actual shipment schedules, delivery dates, date required, mode of transport, storage arrangements,” or other logistical information, the memo said.
This proposal intended to limit the information made available “that would be useful to an adversary seeking to steal or sabotage material and use it malevolently to expose people to radiation and thus endanger the lives or physical security of individuals,” the memo said.
Kuperman then wrote to Nader Mamish, director of the NRC’s Office of International Programs, noting that former NRC Chairman Dale Klein had decided in 2006 not to withhold material quantity information from the public. In a Nov. 30 response to Kuperman, Mamish wrote, “After further consideration, the NRC has decided not to pursue the staff proposal and, for the foreseeable future, will adhere to the policy established by former Chairman Klein.”
Kuperman applauded the NRC’s decision and “quick response” in a press release issued last Thursday.
From The Wires:
From CQ Roll Call: Northrop Grumman had a significant influence on defense authorization act language on the B-21 bomber, which the defense giant is building for the Pentagon, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain said.
From Defense News: U.S. Air Force officials believe nuclear modernization efforts will be maintained under Trump administration.
