NORTHROP GRUMMAN TO BUILD NEW ICBM: As Pentagon contracts go, this is a big one. The Air Force has picked Northrop Grumman to be the lead contractor to develop a new intercontinental ballistic missile to replace the aging Minuteman III by 2029, part of an ambitious plan to upgrade and modernize all three legs of America’s nuclear triad.

The $13 billion contract is for the engineering and manufacturing development phase of what’s been dubbed the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent program, or GBSD. The decadeslong program is estimated to be worth at least $85 billion over its life and will involve hundreds of companies, including Aerojet Rocketdyne, Bechtel, Clark Construction, Collins Aerospace, General Dynamics, HDT Global, Honeywell, Kratos Defense and Security Solutions, L3Harris, Lockheed Martin, Textron Systems — essentially every major U.S. defense contractor except Boeing.