OGDEN — Boeing announced Tuesday that it was awarded an additional $405 million contract to continue “extreme environmental testing” on nuclear weapons components at Hill Air Force Base.
The contract was first awarded in September 2017, for $154 million. In February, it was extended for another five years, making the total amount of the contract worth up to $559 million and allowing Boeing engineers to continue working at the Little Mountain Test Facility, a remote 1,000-acre area on the western shore of the Great Salt Lake. The site is owned by the Air Force and operated in partnership with defense contractors.
It was a noncompetitive contract, which can be awarded in specific cases where “only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements,” per federal regulations.
Boeing tests components of the Minuteman and Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile projects, simulating extreme environments to better understand “radiation effects, electromagnetic effects, shock and vibration,” and other environmental impacts, according to a press release.