Virginia-based Northrop Grumman Corp. has completed the transition of Minuteman III second- and third-stage rocket motor manufacturing from the Pratt & Whitney facility in San Jose, Calif., to Alliant Techsystems' Bacchus facility in Magna.
The Minuteman motors are being delivered to the U.S. Air Force, after a nine-month delay. The move to the ATK facility was prompted by two industrial accidents that occurred in August and September 2003 at the Pratt & Whitney plant.
Over the next four months, ATK will increase the production motor delivery rate from two motor sets per month to the full rate target of eight motor sets per month. The company expects to deliver all production motors by April 2009.
Minuteman first-stage motors are manufactured by ATK at their facility in Promontory. Stage 1 motor deliveries were unaffected by the need to move the other stages' motor manufacturing location.
The motors are being manufactured as part of the Minuteman III Propulsion Replacement Program, one of several modernization efforts managed by Northrop Grumman as intercontinental ballistic missile prime contractor. The goal is to replace aging solid-fuel rocket motors in the Minuteman III force with new remanufactured motors.
ATK Thiokol and Pratt & Whitney's Chemical Systems Division formed a joint venture propulsion team, under contract to Northrop Grumman, to produce the motors. The remanufacturing of the motors includes replacing the aging propellant in the motors and replacing obsolete or environmentally unsafe materials and components.