William LaPlante, under secretary for acquisition and sustainment at the Department of Defense and a 2024 Wash100 awardee, led a comprehensive review of the Sentinel program and certified that the intercontinental ballistic missile program met the statutory criteria to continue.
The Sentinel program seeks to modernize the ground-based leg of the U.S. nuclear triad by replacing the aging Minuteman III ICBM system.
DOD said Monday the review was prompted by a critical breach under the Nunn-McCurdy statute.
According to the department, the breach occurred when the program acquisition unit cost or the average unit procurement cost exceeded the current program baseline by more than 25 percent.
Based on the Director of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation’s estimates, the program’s total acquisition costs are now projected at $140.9 billion, up 81 percent from the previous estimates in September 2020.
The review pointed to the program’s command and launch segment as the key driver of the cost growth. The segment includes the launch centers, launch facilities and the process of transitioning from Minuteman III to Sentinel.
“We are fully aware of the costs, but we are also aware of the risks of not modernizing our nuclear forces and not addressing the very real threats we confront,” LaPlante said. “There are reasons for the cost growth, but there are no excuses. We are already working to address the root causes, and more importantly, we believe we are on the right path to defend our nation while protecting the sacred responsibility the American taxpayer has entrusted us with.”
The department’s acquisition chief moved to rescind the Sentinel program’s Milestone B approval and directed the U.S. Air Force to restructure the program to address the breach’s root causes and ensure that an appropriate framework is in place to better manage future costs.
“Having completed a comprehensive and objective assessment of the program, it is clear that the Sentinel program remains essential to U.S. national security and is the best option to meet the needs of our warfighters,” LaPlante stated.
