Northrop wins missile contract

Northrop Grumman just won a $475.3 million addition to a Pentagon missile-defense deal, pushing the project’s total value to about $1.31 billion. (investing.com) The award is a contract modification under a Prototype Project Other Transaction Agreement, a faster contracting tool the Missile Defense Agency uses for early development work. Northrop’s agreement had already grown to $832.8 million before this latest increase. (gurufocus.com) The work is tied to the Glide Phase Interceptor, a missile meant to hit hypersonic weapons while they are still gliding through the atmosphere after launch. The Missile Defense Agency picked Northrop Grumman and Raytheon to keep developing competing designs in June 2022. (stockinvest.us) (mda.mil) That timing matters because hypersonic glide vehicles are designed to fly lower and maneuver more than traditional ballistic missiles, which makes them harder to track and intercept. The new money keeps Northrop in a race to turn a prototype into a working defense against that class of threat. (thedefensepost.com) (investing.com) The contract news also landed as Northrop and the United States Air Force said the company’s Sentinel nuclear-missile program is moving toward a first flight in 2027. They said initial capability is now targeted for the early 2030s. (investor.northropgrumman.com) (businessinsider.com) Sentinel is the replacement for the LGM-30 Minuteman III, the land-based nuclear missile that has been in service since the 1960s. The Air Force says the program covers not just missiles, but also launch facilities and command-and-control systems across the nuclear force. (congress.gov) (stratcom.mil) That program has been under pressure since January 18, 2024, when the Air Force notified Congress that Sentinel had breached cost thresholds under the Nunn-McCurdy law. The Pentagon said on July 8, 2024, that it would keep the program after a review, rather than cancel it. (war.gov) (congress.gov) In February 2026, the Air Force said it had reworked the acquisition plan and aimed to finish the restructure by the end of 2026, with a Milestone B decision also due by year-end. Northrop said this week that missile testing, infrastructure prototyping and supply-chain work are all advancing under that revised approach. (afgsc.af.mil) (investor.northropgrumman.com) Taken together, the two updates show Northrop adding fresh Pentagon money on one missile-defense program while trying to keep a much larger nuclear-modernization effort on its revised schedule. The next markers are a 2027 Sentinel first flight and continued Glide Phase Interceptor development through June 2028. ([investor.northropgrumman.com](https://investor.northrop