Posted: Sat, Feb 1, 2003, 9:12 AM ET (1412 GMT)
Orbital Sciences Corporation released additional details Friday about a pair of contracts it won this week to refurbish ICBMs into launch vehicles and missile defense target vehicles. Orbital won a contract worth up to $238 million over 10 years to refurbish Minuteman ICBMs into launch and target vehicles. The contract is similar to the work Orbital has previously done with the Minotaur launch vehicle, which uses the lower stages of a Minuteman and the upper stages of a Pegasus. Orbital said it also won a similar contract with the same potential value to perform similar work on Peacekeeper ICBMs. Orbital said it would use Peacekeeper stages along with Taurus and Pegasus rocket motors to create low-cost launch vehicles for small government payloads. Both contracts are part of the Air Force's Orbital/Suborbital Program-2 (OSP-2) effort, a follow-on to the existing OSP-1 contract.

Related Links:

•  Orbital press release
•  Reuters article
•  Dow Jones article