Northrop Grumman gets missle production pact

Northrop Grumman Corp., which has operations in Clearfield, has been awarded a $248 million contract to continue full-rate production of the intercontinental ballistic missile propulsion replacement program.

The program replaces aging solid-fuel rocket motor sets — three stages — in the Minuteman III force with remanufactured motors to maintain alert readiness status through 2020.

This contract is the fourth of seven full-rate production options exercised by the Air Force Materiel Wing, ICBM System Program Office, at Hill Air Force Base. The total program has a value of $1.75 billion over nine years.

In June, Northrop Grumman resumed delivery of second- and third-stage motors to the Air Force after work was moved from a Pratt & Whitney facility in California to Alliant Techsystems' Bacchus facility in Magna.

ATK is now producing all motors using several facilities in northern Utah. The remanufacturing includes replacing the aging propellant in the motors and replacing obsolete or environmentally unsafe materials and components.