WASHINGTON (AFP) – Boeing has been awarded a USD1.6-billion contract to provide guidance subsystem support for United States (US) Minuteman III Intercontinental ballistic missiles, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.
Work will be performed at Hill Air Force Base in the state of Utah, and is expected to be completed by February 1, 2039, the Department of Defence said in a statement.
The Minuteman III, which has been in service for 50 years, is a warhead-equipped missile that can carry a nuclear bomb during wartime. The Pentagon carried out a routine test of the missile on September 7. The operation had been announced in advance in order to avoid any flare-up of tensions with Russia.
The unarmed missile was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and travelled 6,760 kilometres over the Pacific before crashing into the sea near Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
The Minuteman III is the only ground-fired intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in the US’ nuclear arsenal.
It is installed in launch silos spread over three American military bases, in Wyoming, North Dakota, and Montana in north of the US.
