Players/The 1947-2026 Defense-Industrial Capital Architecture (Report #87, May 8 2026)

Sentinel ICBM (LGM-35A) — $140.9B Northrop Sole-Source

Modern Apex of the Single-Prime Capital-Concentration Pattern

Originally Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD), renamed LGM-35A Sentinel. Boeing withdrew from competition Sept 2020; Northrop Grumman awarded $13.3 billion Engineering and Manufacturing Development contract sole-source. Per July 2024 Nunn-McCurdy review by Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment William LaPlante: program acquisition cost ESCALATED to $140.9 billion — an 81% increase from the Milestone B baseline. Schedule slipped 'several years' past the projected 2029 IOC.
Per CRS Defense Primer + GAO June 2023 evaluation: program delayed by Northrop staffing shortfalls, security-clearance delays, IT infrastructure challenges, and supply chain disruptions. First Sentinel launch projected 2027. IOC early 2030s.

Engine Framing: $140.9 billion sole-source flow to a single prime over the program lifecycle, locked in through the 2070s — the single largest concentration of single-prime ICBM capital in US history.

Also in The 1947-2026 Defense-Industrial Capital Architecture (Report #87, May 8 2026)

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