The U.S. Air Force has awarded BAE Systems an eight-year, $534 million contract to maintain the readiness of the US intercontinental bal...
The U.S. Air Force has awarded BAE Systems an eight-year, $534 million contract to maintain the readiness of the US intercontinental ballistic missiles. The company will provide systems engineering, integration, testing, logistics and other services to support the missile, ground and launch systems for 450 deployed Boeing Minuteman III missiles.
The work, managed by the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, will be performed primarily at three locations: Hill Air Force Base in Utah, Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, and in Shreveport, Louisiana, near Barksdale Air Force Base. BAE Systems will be actively recruiting from the existing skilled workforce at each site.
For more than 50 years, BAE Systems has provided engineering and integration for the U.S. Navy’s Strategic Systems Programs, supporting submarine-launched ballistic missiles.
Minuteman was the first solid fuelled ICBM the U.S. Air Force ever made operational, the Minuteman could stand dormant and unmanned for days, weeks, months and now decades on end, with limited maintenance and upkeep.
Remotely controlled from underground launch control center's miles away from the silos, it was a hair trigger launch response. From the time keys were turned to execute a positive launch command, until the missile left the silo, only took about a minute.
It is capable of carrying single or multiple nuclear warheads to more than 6,000 miles with a speed of 15000 mph.
