The U.S. Air Force is expected to award a contract for the potential $85B Ground-Based Strategic DeterrentĀ intercontinentinal ballistic missile program to Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) by the end of September but Will Roper, the serviceās acquisition executive and a 2020 Wash100 awardee, said the contract award could occur sooner than expected, Defense News reported Thursday.
āI thinkĀ early award is possibleĀ on GBSD,ā Roper said Thursday during a teleconference. āIām very hopeful, but because GBSD has a large component of classified work, that team is having to go in and maintain workforce in our [sensitive compartmented information facilities] and in our classified spaces. So weāre watching very carefully to make sure the installations are open to allow that work.ā
Northrop and Boeing (NYSE: BA) eachĀ received contractsĀ in August 2017 to perform technology maturation and risk reduction work for the GBSD program, which seeks to replace the Minuteman III ICBM. Boeing dropped out of the competition, leaving Northrop as the only bidder for the program.