Boeing's Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Systems division announced Thursday it has received a $25.2 million U.S. Air Force contract to support flight testing of the Minuteman missile at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
The Minuteman is a three-stage, solid-fueled strategic missile. First deployed in the 1960s, the Air Force now has 500 operable Minutemen in its ICBM arsenal.
Under the contract's terms, to be completed in 2010, Boeing ICBM Systems will provide hardware for command destruct operations – a system that destroys a launch vehicle when vehicle performance degrades enough to be a safety hazard – and in-flight telemetry. A Boeing-designed flight instrumentation wafer will provide data to enable the Air Force to evaluate the missile's in-flight reliability and accuracy, the company said in a statement.
"This contract is a tribute to the expertise of our more than 500 ICBM employees in Utah, California, Ohio, and at the Air Force's ICBM field locations," said Dave Hicks, Boeing's ICBM program manager in Anaheim, Calif.
