Air Force says new ICBM plan will be done by end of year

Tony Capaccio, Bloomberg News on Feb 17, 2026

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

The U.S. Air Force said it intends to complete by the end of the year a restructuring plan for the new Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile system from Northrop Grumman Corp., after the projected $141 billion program was plagued by skyrocketing costs and fielding delays.

“Leveraging considerable progress over the last 12-18 months, program officials are executing a transformed acquisition strategy paving the way” to complete the restructuring by December, the Air Force said in a statement on Tuesday.

The goal is to have the new ICBMs capable by “the early 2030s,” the Air Force said in a statement that outlined progress made in assessing the program since cost increases and delays in fielding the technology were first disclosed in 2024.

The Sentinel is the land-based portion of the so-called nuclear triad with the ability to deliver nuclear warheads from land, sea and air, and is key to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s vow to bolster the lethality of the American arsenal.

“The restructured Sentinel program is the product of a deliberate, data-driven process and embodies our commitment to transforming acquisition,” General Dale White, the Air Force’s director for critical major weapon systems, said in a statement.

The Sentinel was projected in 2024 to be deployed starting in May 2029. The first test flight was once projected for December 2023. Those dates — now in limbo — are being assessed in the current review. The statement said “the program’s next major operational milestone” is a test flight planned for 2027.

White’s review also is assessing the implications of a projected 81% overall increase in the Sentinel program’s total cost — to at least $141 billion — and how to reduce those projections.

The 2024 review also concluded that Sentinel costs were on track to increase to as much as $214 million per-missile when calculated in 2020 dollars, up from $118 million previously.

An updated cost estimate is also planned by December, a U.S. official said.