Sentinel ICBM problems mean the US Air Force could be stuck with aging nuclear missiles for over 2 more decades

"Officials plan to replace the aging Minuteman III with the new Sentinel ICBM, but severe cost overruns and delays have curtailed that nuclear missile program and left the Pentagon struggling to figure out solutions. According to the US Government Accountability Office, a watchdog agency that reports to Congress, the Air Force believes it must continue to maintain Minuteman III missiles over the next decade and beyond while Sentinel is completed."

"In the years since the Sentinel contract was awarded in 2020, both the delivery timeline and cost have ballooned. The US Department of Defense estimates the Sentinel will now cost over $140 billion and be delayed by years, with deployment potentially expected sometime in the 2030s. The Pentagon has blamed this on an unrealistic delivery schedule, problems with Sentinel's engineering and system design, an atrophied ICBM industrial base, and organizational issues within the Air Force, GAO said."

"The US Air Force's new ICBM Sentinel faces major delays and cost overruns. The service may have to rely on its 50-year-old Minuteman III's for much longer than anticipated. A host of logistical and construction issues, like new silos, have hurt Sentinel's development. The Sentinel is a three-stage solid-fuel missile that will purportedly have a lighter carbon composite structure and more advanced electronics and systems for easier upgrades."

The Air Force has relied on Minuteman III ICBMs for over 50 years and may keep them operational into the 2050s. Northrop Grumman's Sentinel was planned to replace all 450 Minuteman III missiles beginning later this decade at an estimated $78 billion. Sentinel development has experienced schedule slips and cost growth to over $140 billion, with deployment now likely pushed into the 2030s. Contributing factors include unrealistic schedules, engineering and system-design problems, a weakened ICBM industrial base, organizational challenges within the Air Force, and logistical and silo-construction obstacles. Sentinel is designed as a three-stage solid-fuel missile with carbon-composite structure and upgraded electronics.

Read at Business Insider