KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa., Dec. 16 (UPI) — Lockheed Martin has received $60 million in contracts to sustain and modernize intercontinental ballistic missile re-entry systems for the U.S. Air Force.
The agreement comprises a new contract in addition to an extended second contract. The company will be tasked with providing equipment and services for U.S. Air Force personnel to support testing and maintenance for all Minuteman III re-entry systems.
Company officials say modernizing existing equipment is essential for national security in the United States.
“Missile maintainers bear great responsibility for our nation’s critical strategic deterrence mission,” Lockheed Martin Missile Systems and Advanced Programs Vice President Doug Graham said in a press release. “We are proud to support their mission and provide airmen with next-generation support equipment to enable them to test and maintain ICBMs with modern technology, supporting Air Force Global Strike Command’s Continuous Force Improvement Program.”
The modification raises the cumulative value of the sustainment contract, initially awarded in 2010, to almost $107 million over the next five years.
The Boeing-made Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, began development in 1970, with developers building on the payload capacity of its predecessors. The missile is the only land-based ICBM in service in the U.S.
