The United States Air Force’s Sentinel missile program remains on target to complete a government-mandated restructuring sooner than expected. “The restructure will be complete in 2026 to include regaining our Milestone B certification,” U.S. Air Force Gen. Dale White, direct reporting portfolio manager (DRPM) for critical major weapon systems, told the news website Breaking Defense in a February 2026 interview.
The U.S. Department of War affirms its confidence in a weapon system’s design when it issues the certification. White, who assumed the newly created DRPM role in December 2025, said the Sentinel likely would reach certification in the “back half of the year,” according to Breaking Defense.
The Sentinel, a next generation intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), will replace 400 legacy Minuteman III ICBMs in silos across the western U.S. Program officials plan a Sentinel test launch for 2027, and they expect the Northrop Grumman developed ICBM to become operational in the early 2030s. The Minuteman, which has stood guard since 1970, remains viable through constant testing and life extension upgrades. The latest test launch, in March 2026, validated that reliability, according to the U.S. Air Force.
The U.S. Air Force briefly halted Sentinel infrastructure work in early 2025 as it reviewed options for restructuring the program. The service said it needed new underground silos instead of reusing the Minuteman III infrastructure, which officials had planned earlier. “So, we had to take a step back and have a more enduring look at what we were trying to do, what capability is needed, making sure we do not have a gap in capability,” White said in February 2026 at the Air & Space Forces Association’s Annual Warfare Symposium in Colorado, according to Ars Technica magazine.
The U.S. Air Force now applies the lessons from the restructuring to maximize efficiency. “The decision to build new silos, for example, avoids the unpredictable costs and safety hazards of excavating and retrofitting 450 unique structures built over 50 years ago, and is a prime example of choosing a path that delivers capability with greater speed and less risk,” the service said in a February 2026 news release.
U.S. Navy Adm. Richard Correll, Commander of U.S. Strategic Command; U.S. Air Force Gen. S.L. Davis, who leads U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC); and White briefed reporters on the Sentinel program’s status at the Warfare Symposium.
White told Breaking Defense that the Sentinel team — the U.S. Air Force, Northrop Grumman and defense industry partners — has advanced “much further along than even what I would argue they give themselves credit for,” enabling the team to reach the certification decision more quickly than its original mid 2027 target.
“We’ll bring more capability faster to the force,” Davis said at the Warfare Symposium.
The Sentinel’s capability to carry more warheads also could evolve. Until recently, the U.S. could not arm ballistic missiles with Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicles under the constraints of the New START arms control treaty. The treaty expired in February 2026. “We have the ability to do that,” Adm. Correll said of the multiple reentry vehicles, according to Air & Space Forces Magazine. “That’s obviously a national-level decision that would go up to the president.”
Adm. Correll said the ICBM force forms the cornerstone of strategic deterrence and the U.S. nuclear triad. “The deliberate progress being made on Sentinel ensures, that for decades to come, there will be no doubt in the minds of our adversaries about the credibility and readiness of our nation’s nuclear deterrent,” he said in the U.S. Air Force news release. “That is the ultimate deliverable.”