Boeing won a $1.6 billion contract with Washington to supply guidance systems for Minuteman III ICBMs.
This contract, revealed by a Pentagon press release, does not provide for a precise number of guidance systems to be delivered by Boeing, but plans to take it “until February 1, 2039,” the US Department of Defense specified.
Avoid escalating tensions with Russia
The Minuteman III, in service for 50 years, is a missile equipped with a warhead that in wartime can carry a nuclear bomb. The Pentagon had carried out a routine test on September 7, but the operation had been announced in advance to avoid any escalation of tensions with Russia amid the conflict in Ukraine.
The unarmed missile was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and traveled 6,760km over the Pacific before crashing into the sea near Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
It is the only ground-fired intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in the United States’ nuclear arsenal. It is installed in launch silos distributed in three US military bases, in Wyoming, North Dakota and Montana (northern United States).
Sea-launched Trident missiles are deployed aboard US submarines, while nuclear bombs are carried by strategic bombers.
Source: BFM TV
