https://www.airandspaceforces.com/northrop-sentinel-milestones-program-restructure/

By John A. Tirpak   Oct. 22, 2025 

Quote:

The Sentinel program has been in need of positive momentum since the Pentagon announced in January 2024 that cost and schedule overruns triggered what is known as a Nunn-McCurdy breach. That in turn compelled a high-level Pentagon review and re-certification that the program is still needed, but the Air Force has since been restructuring it after the review concluded an 81 percent increase in cost estimates. Service officials have also said they anticipate a minimum of a two-year delay in the project.

The bulk of the overage is in the massive civil engineering aspect of the program, which was originally intended to refurbish the hundreds of missile silos and launch capsules now supporting the Minuteman III. But the Air Force recently decided the existing 50-year-old Minuteman physical launch infrastructure is too decrepit to be re-used and now expects to build most or all of it new for Sentinel. The project also requires a huge overhaul of the nuclear command, control, and communications infrastructure. The Air Force is developing new costs for the program.

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