Air Force changes GBSD name to 'Sentinel'

The Air Force announced today its effort to replace the aging Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile system has a new name: the LGM-35A Sentinel.

Formerly known as the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent program, the effort is one part of a push to modernize the nation's nuclear triad and is on track to reach initial operational capability in 2029.

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said in a service press release the new name “recognizes the mindset that thousands of airmen, past and present, have brought to the deterrence mission, and will serve as a reminder for those who operate, secure and maintain this system in the future about the discipline and responsibility their duty entails.”

Northrop Grumman in September 2020 won a $13.3 billion engineering and manufacturing development contract for the new missiles, though the framework does not include costs for low-rate initial production.

The company’s former vice president and general manager of the Strategic Deterrent Systems division, Greg Manuel, told Inside Defense in the fall the program is looking to launch its first test missile in the fourth quarter of calendar year 2023, with production following in 2026.

The Fiscal Year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act included a 30-day timeline following the language’s enactment to give GBSD a “mission-design series popular name.”