Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Gen. Frank Kendall Says Challenges Are Surfacing That Need To Be Addressed
Gen. Frank Kendall, secretary of the Air Force, spoke candidly in an online interview about the Sentinel missile project destined for Kimball, the tri-state area, Montana and North Dakota.
Kendall’s words could be a cause for concern in the Kimball area. He spent about four minutes of the hour long interview voicing his own concerns about the Sentinel project.
The interview was hosted by a Washington, D.C., think tank, the Center for New American Security, on November 13, 2023, and is available on YouTube.
Dr. Staci Pettyjohn, senior fellow and director of the Center for New American Security, interviewed Kendall in a session on “modernization efforts and readiness within the context of continued fiscal budgetary uncertainty.”
Kendall said, “Sentinel, I think, is quite honestly struggling a bit. There are unknown unknowns that are surfacing that are affecting the program and that the department is going to have to work its way through. I am more nervous about Sentinel right now.”
Despite the concerns, Kendall said the Air Force must complete the Sentinel and B-21 programs, which are important defense projects.
Kendall spoke about a variety of programs and funding for Air Force programs, and he briefly mentioned the problems confronting the replacement of the ICBM Minuteman III missiles with the Sentinel.
The secretary of the Air Force said, “Sentinel is one of the most large, complex programs I’ve ever seen. It’s probably the biggest thing in some ways that the Air Force has ever taken on because it’s a vast real estate development, civil engineering program.”
Kendall said the “creation of both communications and command-and-control infrastructure, and the production of the missile itself, has proved challenging.”
Before becoming Air Force secretary, Kendall was a consultant with Northrop Grumman. Northrop is the prime contractor for the Sentinel and the B-21. Kendall has had to recuse himself from any decision making in regards to the Sentinel and the B-21 Raider stealth bomber programs.