Naomi Cooper
The U.S. Air Force has conducted a static fire test of the stage-3 solid rocket motor of the ground-based intercontinental ballistic missile system being developed by Northrop Grumman as a replacement for the Minuteman III ICBM.
The test was conducted at the Arnold Engineering and Development Complex at Arnold Air Force Base in Tennessee and validated the design and performance of the LGM-35A Sentinel’s propulsion system, the Air Force Materiel Command said Saturday.
Aerojet Rocketdyne, which produces the large solid rocket motor and post-boost propulsion system for the LGM-35A Sentinel, supported the closed chamber test.
The third-stage solid rocket motor is the smallest of the three stages and the third to fire following the weapon system’s launch.
The test comes two months after the Air Force and Northrop tested the Sentinel’s stage-2 rocket motor through a high-altitude and space flight simulation inside a vacuum chamber.
