Senior Airman Collin Satterfield, 90th Missile Maintenance Squadron cageman and boardman technician, gears up and prepares to disassemble Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile components during a weapons transfer operation near Sydney, Nebraska, Feb. 5, 2025. A weapons transfer operation allows for 90 MMXS to move MMIII ICBM components back to F.E. Warren Air Force Base for routine maintenance ensuring sustainability. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Mattison Cole)
By Sean Green | Facilitation and Outreach Coordinator
BOSSIER CITY, La. — The Cyber Innovation Center (CIC) has contracted with Stottler Henke Associates to refine software that supports quality of force for missileers in Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC).
Stottler Henke will work with STRIKEWERX, CIC’s innovation hub for AFGSC, to implement the Aurora Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) management tool on U.S. Air Force (USAF) networks.
The Aurora tool will modernize scheduling processes in all three missile wings of the 20th Air Force to create a unified location for managing ICBM operations.
The goals would be to increase efficiency and accuracy, improve decision making for leadership, and reduce lost time for the warfighter.
“I am incredibly encouraged by the potential of the Aurora project as it represents a significant step forward in enhancing our operational capabilities and ensuring mission readiness,” said Master Sgt. Andrew Griffith, AFGSC manager for Minuteman III mechanical systems and project co-champion. “This innovative tool will strengthen our command’s efficiency and mission readiness.”
The CIC and STRIKEWERX will continue to work with Stottler Henke Associates and AFGSC Airmen to complete the development of the prototype solution to a minimum viable product for testing. Pending results, the prototype could be refined and delivered to AFGSC for implementation to impact all three of AFGSC’s missile wings, ensuring that the United States’ nuclear deterrent remains safe, secure, reliable, and effective in deterring 21st-century threats and reassuring our Allies and Partners.
This advancement of technological capabilities has come at the perfect time as the USAF continues their plans of modernizing the land-based leg of the nuclear triad by replacing the fielded LGM-30G Minuteman III ICBM with the next-generation LGM-35A Sentinel, with an initial capability in 2029. With Sentinel still in development, until full capability is achieved, the Air Force is committed to ensuring the Minuteman III remains a viable deterrent.
About the Cyber Innovation Center
Cyber Innovation Center (CIC), located in Bossier City, Louisiana, is the anchor of the 3,000-acre National Cyber Research Park and serves as the catalyst for the development and expansion of a knowledge-based workforce throughout the region. As a 501c3 not-for-profit corporation, CIC fosters collaboration among its partners and accelerates technology, research, and development. One of its primary missions is to develop a sustainable knowledge-based workforce that can support the growing needs of government, industry, and academic partners.