Northrop Wins U.S.A.F.’s Minuteman III Sustainment Contract

Northrop Grumman said today it won a $287 million base contract by the U.S. Air Force to provide engineering services to assist in sustaining the Minuteman III missile system.

The Propulsion Subsystem Support Contract (PSSC) 2.0, awarded last month, with options, has a contract ceiling of $2.3 billion over 18.5 years, and supports the Air Force’s Minuteman III Systems Directorate, located at Hill Air Force Base, Utah.

The Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) must remain on alert and ready until its end-of-life – later next decade. Minuteman III was originally manufactured in 1970 and has undergone multiple refurbishments to ensure viability. The Northrop Grumman propulsion systems team is addressing sustainment challenges of the missile propulsion system such as material obsolescence, associated hardware and/or equipment repair, and propellant aging-surveillance testing and analysis.