NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.–It could take the Air Force more than a year to better refine its Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) cost estimate as service Secretary Deborah James said she wants to use industry input to better inform this effort.
In the meantime, James said the Air Force would talk with the Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE) office and potentially Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work over the next few months to figure out a new estimated price tag for GBSD in the next Program Objective Memorandum (POM) cycle. The technology maturation and risk reduction request for proposals (RFP) for GBSD, the Air Force’s follow-on effort to the Minuteman III ICBM, went out in late July.
The POM, a key part in how the services put together their budgets, shows programmed needs for a five-year period. GBSD is projected to be one of the Air Force’s most expensive programs in the 2020s.
Bloomberg on Sept. 6 reported that a memo from Pentagon acquisition czar Frank Kendall to James said the CAPE’s $85 billion price tag for GBSD would be the low end of a of potential costs. Bloomberg also reported that the Air Force’s estimate for GBSD was $62.3 billion. James on Tuesday said the Air Force’s cost estimate was different because the service hasn’t built a new ICBM in over 40 years and that there were different approaches used to compile potential costs.
The Air Force in early September released a pair of amendments to the GBSD TMRR RFP on Federal Business Opportunities (FBO). The RFP is classified secret.
Bids for the TMRR RFP phase of GBSD are due Oct. 12 and the Air Force plans to award up to contracts in late fiscal year 2017 for an estimated three-year period of performance. Lockheed Martin [LMT], Boeing [BA] and Northrop Grumman [NOC] have confirmed their intent to bid for this phase of the program (Defense Daily, Sept. 2).
The Air Force is focused on developing and delivering an integrated weapon system including launch and command and control segments, according to a service statement. The new GBSD weapon system will meet existing national requirements while having the adaptability and flexibility to affordably address changing technology and threat environments through 2075. Deployment is projected to begin in the late 2020s.
James’ remarks came here at the Air Force Association’s (AFA) annual convention.