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AFNWC breaks ground on innovative software center for next-gen ICBM

  • Published
  • By Leah Bryant, AFNWC Public Affairs
  • Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center

The Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center hosted a groundbreaking ceremony Jan. 19, 2023, at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, to mark the start of construction for a new software facility. 

The new Software Mission Assurance Center will be a state-of-the-art software facility to support the LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile program (previously known as the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent). The groundbreaking also marks another large milestone in the modernization of the land-based leg of the U.S. nuclear triad.

The facility will be a collaborative space where government and contractor software developers will advance and create evolutionary products, using the most current technologies and methodologies.

According to AFNWC officials, the facility will be the first of its kind, and the technology that will be developed and used here is unlike anything the Air Force has built to date. The SMAC will allow Sentinel to remain a modular weapon system throughout its lifecycle, meeting the unique challenges posed by modern technologies.

The Air Force plans to replace the currently fielded Minuteman III weapon system with the Sentinel weapon system currently in development. The Sentinel acquisition program is focused on the delivery of a modular and flexible weapon system, capable of adapting quickly to the dynamic threat environment over the next 50-plus years.