[ad_1]
The addition of Aerojet to the Northrop team ensures that the only two US manufacturers of large solid rocket engines will be part of the GBSD program.
NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland – Northrop Grumman announced on Monday that Aerojet Rocketdyne would join its ground-based strategic deterrent team to develop a modernized intercontinental ballistic missile for the US Air Force.
The GBSD – an estimated $ 63 billion program to replace the intercontinental Minuteman 3 ballistic missile – is expected to be a two-horse race between Northrop Grumman and Boeing. But Boeing decided to pull out after concluding that Northrop Grumman's dominance in the solid-propulsion rocket engine market would give him an overwhelming price advantage against which it could not compete.
Aerojet Rocketdyne is the only other US manufacturer of large solid rocket engines. In recent years, it had lost a significant market share to Orbital ATK, acquired in 2017 by Northrop Grumman.
In July 2019, the Air Force released its latest RFP for the GBSD program, with an expected date of allocation for the third quarter of 2020.
The addition of Aerojet to the Northrop team ensures that the only two US manufacturers of large solid rocket engines will be part of the GBSD program. Other members of the Northrop Grumman team are BRPH, Clark Construction, Collins Aerospace, General Dynamics, Honeywell, L3Harris, Lockheed Martin, Parsons and Textron Systems.
In a statement released on Monday, Aerojet announced that it would provide both a large solid rocket engine and a post-boost propulsion system for GBS.
Aerojet Rocketdyne's GBSD work will be spread over three facilities: a manufacturing facility in Huntsville, Alabama; a newly constructed facility in Camden, Arkansas; and a precision post-boost propulsion technology plant in Canoga Park, California.
In August, Northrop Grumman inaugurated a new facility near Hill Air Force Air Base in Utah, which will serve as the future headquarters of the GBSD program. The company said the program will employ more than 10,000 people in the United States.
After withdrawing from competition as a prime contractor, Boeing proposed joining Northrop's team, but his bid was rejected, Boeing spokesman said Friday.
"In the discussions we have had so far, Northrop Grumman has indicated that he was not interested in partnering with Boeing to form an unparalleled DBMS team," said the spokesman. "We are increasingly concerned that the Air Force deterrence mission and the country's security will be deprived of the best solution – a proven approach that leverages the technical strengths of both companies and decades of experience in the field. GICB.
The air force refused to comment on these developments. "While the air force is at source selection, we will not comment to preserve the integrity of the competitive process," said a spokesman. SpaceNews.
Northrop Grumman is expected to submit his final proposal in December. Unless another bidder intervenes, it will ultimately be the only proposal, which will put the Air Force in an uncomfortable position, since it will have to negotiate a sole-source contract for a program of this kind. scale.
Acting Secretary of the Air Force Procurement, Technology and Logistics, Will Roper, said Monday at the Air Force Association Symposium that it would not be wise for the Air Force Government will intervene until the proposals have been submitted and examined.
"We are still in source selection," said Roper. "I can always receive proposals. I can not presuppose what will happen, "he added," We are open to team relations, we just do not want to dictate them, and on the side of the Air Force we are still waiting for end of the proposal period and we will leave from there. "
[ad_2]
Source link