WASHINGTON – Boeing declined to bid on the U.S. Air Force’s Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) program by the deadline of Dec. 13, leaving Northrop Grumman as the de facto winner of the contract. Defense News reports. Continue reading original article
The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:
18 Dec. 2019 -- At play is an $85 billion award to design the Air Force’s next-generation intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), which will replace the Minuteman III.
Northrop and Boeing each won contracts in 2017 for the technology-maturation and risk-reduction phase of the program — meaning Boeing’s departure leaves the Air Force with only Northrop Grumman as an active bidder.
Boeing officials announced in July that they would not bid on the next-gen ICBMs unless the Air Force made changes to its acquisition strategy. Specifically, Boeing claimed that Northrop’s purchase of one of the only two U.S. solid-fuel rocket motor manufacturers — Orbital ATK, now known as Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems — gave the company an unfair advantage in terms of being able to offer the lowest-cost system.
Related: A Boeing-Northrop team may be the only way to fix the Air Force's flawed ICBM competition
John Keller, chief editor
Military & Aerospace Electronics
