Jamie Morin, director of cost assessment and program evaluation at the Defense Department, has described $85 billion as a low cost estimate for the replacement platform of Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles in an interview with Breaking Defense posted Thursday.
Sydney Freedberg writes Morin said CAPE provided both low and high estimates for the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent program in an acquisition memorandum to Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall.
DoD’s current $85 billion estimate is 37 percent higher than the U.S. Air Force’s $62 billion figure.
Morin told Breaking Defense it was difficult to estimate the cost of a new ICBM since Minuteman was last updated in 1970 and the MX Peacekeeper ICBM lacked records due to an acquisition reform movement in the 1990s.
The CAPE director noted the Air Force showed restraint in its requirements for GBSD which could help keep the program’s cost and schedule manageable.
