Air Force Delivers First Propulsion Replacement Program Booster Major Milestone in TRW ICBM Prime Contract

    WASHINGTON and OGDEN, Utah--April 23, 2001--The first Minuteman III ICBM booster, produced under the Propulsion Replacement Program (PRP), was delivered this month to the U. S. Air Force Space Command.
    TRW Inc. manages the PRP for the Air Force ICBM System Program Office (SPO) at Hill Air Force Base as part of its role as prime integration contractor for the ICBM force.
    This is the first of 607 PRP boosters that will be delivered by the Air Force SPO to replace the propulsion system in the Minuteman III ICBM force. The PRP is designed to replace aging solid rocket motors (stages 1, 2 and 3) in the Minuteman III force with remanufactured motors to maintain alert readiness status until 2020.
    "This first completed PRP booster will now be delivered to the missile wing at Malmstrom Air Force Base. It will be a spare booster that the wing can assemble into a Minuteman III missile and put on alert status if a failure occurs in a deployed missile," said Dr. Robert Strickler, vice president and general manager, TRW Space & Missile Systems Division. "TRW will continue to support this important Air Force program through its planned completion in 2008."
    TRW is currently operating under a low-rate initial production contract valued at $195 million to deliver remanufactured Minuteman stage 1, 2 and 3 solid rocket motors and ordnance items. An Air Force team located at Hill Air Force Base assembles the remanufactured motors, ordnance items and flight control components into the completed Minuteman III boosters. The TRW contract for full-rate production of the PRP has a potential value of $1.4 billion through Sept. 2008. The Air Force is expected to make a full rate production decision for the PRP later this year.
    "The performance of the modernized booster has been outstanding, meeting or exceeding all performance requirements," said Andy Cianciotto, TRW's ICBM program manager.
    With an overall responsibility of ensuring the readiness of the land-based ICBM force in support of national defense strategies, TRW is also managing replacement of the Minuteman III's guidance system, refurbishment of the post-boost, fourth stage (the liquid propulsion stage) of the missile, and upgrading the launch control communications.
    Under contract to TRW, Thiokol Propulsion, a business unit of Alcoa Inc., and Pratt & Whitney's Chemical Systems Division (CSD) formed a joint-venture propulsion team to produce the motors. Thiokol and CSD are remanufacturing the motors, replacing the propellant and obsolete or environmentally unsafe materials and components.
    Under its ICBM prime contract, TRW also has the Guidance Replacement Program (GRP), together with its teammate The Boeing Company. GRP, which went into full rate production in December 1999, extends the life of the Minuteman III guidance system. TRW's other ICBM responsibilities include the Propulsion System Rocket Engine Life Extension Program, an effort that will refurbish the liquid propulsion stage of the Minuteman III missile to extend its life beyond 2020, and the Minuteman Minimum Essential Emergency Communication Network Program to upgrade launch control communication.
    TRW has served as systems engineering and technical advisor to the Air Force in managing the ICBM fleet since 1954. TRW's ICBM prime integration contract reflects major changes in the management of the nation's ICBM program. Previously, the ICBM SPO at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, directed a number of associate contractors that provided various elements of the ICBM system; TRW provided technical support to the SPO. Under the contract awarded in 1997, TRW as the prime contractor manages the total ICBM system and the integrated team of contractors.
    TRW Inc., headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, provides advanced technology products and services to the automotive, aerospace, telecommunications, and information technology markets worldwide. TRW, which is celebrating its 100th year of operation in 2001, had year-end sales of $17.2 billion. For more information, visit www.trw.com