At the company’s test site in Promontory, Northrop Grumman Corporation performed the Sentinel stage-one solid rocket motor’s first full-scale static test fire.

The Sentinel team’s design strategy will be further supported by this development test, giving them the confidence to forward to the next testing phase. The motor met performance characteristics and objectives within predicted ranges and fired for the anticipated amount of time.

“This static fire demonstrates the improvements we’ve made in digital engineering and gives us confidence in our ability to translate that into hardware manufacture and test as we continue to make progress toward flight testing,” said Sarah Willoughby, vice president, Sentinel, Northrop Grumman. As we develop the Sentinel design and move closer to a critical design review, the results “enable us to validate and anchor our stage-one motor performance before starting qualification testing and finishing system studies.”

To get more data and better understand motor properties, Northrop Grumman also used cutting-edge testing apparatus.

The next-generation missile will be developed more economically and with innovation at its core, giving the Air Force a safe, secure, reliable, and adaptable capability, continued Willoughby.

The U.S. Air Force is modernizing the land-based leg of the strategic triad by replacing the Minuteman III system, which has been in use for more than 50 years, with the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile armament system.

Northrop Grumman manufactures stages one and two of the Sentinel missile’s three-stage booster. The booster is a novel style that makes use of cutting-edge materials and design techniques to enhance performance, dependability, safety, and sustainability.