The Air Force’s two most expensive nuclear modernization programs are seeing notable year-over-year declines in their budget lines, driven less by program slowdowns than by the absence of one-time congressional funding infusions and a broader restructuring of acquisition timelines. Northrop Grumman’s [NOC] LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile’s engineering and manufacturing development budget in particular would receive $4.5 billion, a cut of $300 million in comparison to the fiscal 2026 enacted funding. Sentinel’s procurement spending also would experience a drop from…
