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A quiet launch with big stakes On Oct. 9, a Minotaur I rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Riding on top was something the Air Force hadn't publicly flown in more than two years: the Mk21A, the reentry vehicle that will one day carry America's next-generation nuclear warhead. There was no warhead aboard this time. But for a program better known lately for cost overruns and delays, a successful flight is a welcome bit of good news. It was the firs

A look at how a revamped acquisition strategy is accelerating the LGM-35A Sentinel toward its 2027 first flight. The United States is in the middle of one of the largest nuclear modernization efforts in a generation, and a recent update from Northrop Grumman offers a clear window into how quickly the ground-based piece of that effort is now moving. According to the company, Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Air Force are making broad progress across the Sentinel program, with a f

The LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile program is rapidly moving from digital design to tangible reality, marked by a recent groundbreaking for a full-scale launch silo prototype in Promontory, Utah — a key step in modernizing the land-based leg of the nation's nuclear triad. Minot Air Force Base Developed in partnership with prime contractor Northrop Grumman and construction firm Bechtel, the silo prototype will validate a modular, repeatable construction ap

Airmen from Minot Air Force Base successfully facilitated a test launch of an unarmed Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) on March 3 as part of Glory Trip 255 (GT 255) at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. Glory Trip missions are operational test launches in which missile crews from active-duty bases travel to Vandenberg SFB to simulate real-world conditions and validate the readiness, accuracy, and reliability of the Minuteman III system. GT 255 was