Minuteman III ICBM “reentry vehicle” (which carries the nuclear warhead) reentering the atmosphere. (Air Force graphic)
WASHINGTON — The Air Force is kicking off the solicitation process for a Next Generation Reentry Vehicle (NGRV) that will be mounted on the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile, according to a request for information posted by the service Wednesday.
Most details about the RFI are classified, though the notice and Air Force budget documents [PDF] broadly establish goals of increased survivability, lethality and accuracy for the new reentry vehicle. The RFI says the target award date is in fiscal 2026.
A reentry vehicle houses a missile’s payload, in this case a nuclear warhead. According to a January 2023 “primer” published by the Congressional Research Service, the Air Force plans to place one warhead on each Sentinel, but the report also noted that the service “could, potentially, deploy it with two or three warheads in response to changes in the international security environment.”
If the Air Force went down that path, the numerous warheads could be carried in what are known as multiple independent reentry vehicles (MIRVs). For MIRVs, several reentry vehicles are released from a bus that can shift course during the missile’s flight above the atmosphere, spreading out the vehicles and the warheads contained within them. Another type of reentry vehicle, known as MARVs, are maneuverable themselves during the final phase of flight before striking a target, posing an even greater intercept challenge for adversaries. An Air Force spokesperson told Breaking Defense that details concerning the NGRV are not releasable due to operational security.
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Like the Sentinel missile itself, the Air Force plans for the NGRV to be modular and developed using digital engineering and open systems architectures. The service also wants to ensure the vehicle can integrate with potential future warheads, according to FY24 budget documents, which further state that “future NGRV solutions… will include acquisition of complementary countermeasures.”
The Air Force is asking for $15 million in FY24 to begin early acquisition activities to pave the way to competitive contract awards, the budget documents say. After holding steady in FY25, funding is then slated to ramp up to $79 million in FY26, eventually reaching $232 million in FY27 and $319 million in FY28.
Alongside development of the NGRV, the Air Force is also modernizing its current inventory of Mk21 reentry vehicles with a new model called the Mk21A. The Mk21A, along with the NGRV, would carry an updated nuclear warhead and would be mounted on the Sentinel. The Air Force is planning to field the integrated Mk21A and warhead by FY30, according to budget documents; it is not clear exactly when the NGRV would arrive.
Several companies beyond Northrop Grumman, the prime contractor for Sentinel, could vie to build the NGRV. The RFI mainly serves as an opportunity for the government to gather data on the industrial base, including the pool of potential primes and subcontractors that could compete.
Responses are due by April 19, the notice says.
