Northrop Grumman Meets Rocket Motor Casting Milestone on Road to Sentinel’s First Flight
September 21 2022 - 8:00AM
Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) successfully cast the
LGM-35A Sentinel program’s first inert stage-one and stage-two
solid rocket motor set this summer. The casting event demonstrated
the maturity of Sentinel’s solid rocket motor design and validated
manufacturing processes, advanced tooling, and facilities.
The Sentinel program used digital engineering tools that helped
iterate motor designs earlier and faster, prior to building
hardware, thus allowing the team to produce the motors more
efficiently and with less risk. The casting event is one of several
on-time manufacturing firsts for the program over the past year as
the program prepares for first flight from Vandenberg Space Force
Base, California.
“This first inert ‘pathfinder’ motor tested our processes and
allowed us to draw down risk, paving the way for the team to begin
production of additional test motors,” said Sarah Willoughby, vice
president and program manager, Sentinel, Northrop Grumman. “We are
now building stage-one and stage-two solid rocket motors that will
undergo static test fire, and the data from these tests will be
combined with information from ongoing structural and wind tunnel
performance testing to fine tune our digitally engineered models,
in line with the Air Force development schedule.”
Sentinel is leveraging digital engineering, agile software, and
open systems architecture to model and authenticate virtual
designs, lowering risk and reducing the time it takes to field the
system and new technologies.
Motor casting is a complex process of pouring rocket motor
propellant into motor cases. This completed motor set is
undergoing further processing and inspection before participating
in modal testing. For modal testing, both stages, along with a
stage-three solid rocket motor, supplied by teammate Aerojet
Rocketdyne, will participate in a series of tests to validate
missile structural dynamics and flexibility, which is critical to
designing a stable guidance system that accurately controls the
missile in flight.
Prior to casting these motors, the Sentinel team achieved
numerous on-time milestones for each stage including successful
completion of the insulation and case wind process last fall. The
insulation protects the casing of each motor from extreme
temperatures caused by burning propellant, while the case wind
applied composite material around the insulation to form the outer
shell of the motors. This was a significant achievement that
validated the insulated case design and manufacturing
processes.
Next came the application of the external protection material
over each stage using a company-developed, highly efficient system
that reduced process time by 66 percent, a major schedule-saving
accomplishment. In June, Northrop Grumman produced the first
stage-one and stage-two nozzle builds and igniter assemblies to
install on these motors during rocket motor assembly later this
year.
“In addition to the missile, we’re testing the Sentinel system’s
command and launch, missile integration and more. Our digital
engineering approach enables us to build the system with
sustainability in mind as we produce a safe, secure and flexible
deterrent capability to protect our nation and allies for decades
to come,” added Willoughby.
Sentinel is the U.S. Air Force program to modernize the land leg
of the strategic triad. Northrop Grumman is leading a nationwide
team under the Sentinel engineering and manufacturing development
contract. Teammates include Aerojet Rocketdyne, Bechtel, CAE,
Clark, Collins Aerospace, General Dynamics, HDT, Honeywell, Kratos
Defense and Security Solutions, Lockheed Martin, and Textron
Systems, as well as hundreds of small and medium-sized companies
from across the defense, engineering and construction industries.
For more information, please visit:
www.northropgrumman.com/sentinel
Northrop Grumman is a technology company, focused on global
security and human discovery. Our pioneering solutions equip our
customers with capabilities they need to connect, advance and
protect the U.S. and its allies. Driven by a shared purpose to
solve our customers’ toughest problems, our 90,000 employees define
possible every day.
Contact:
Nathan Drevna385-442-1171 (office)443-591-0574
(mobile)nathan.drevna@ngc.com
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/cae5e772-439b-4893-9749-8fea06d6da93
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