A senior U.S. Air Force official last month criticized defense contractor Northrop Grumman over poor handling of the Space Based Infrared System-High (SBIRS-High) satellite project, a planned component of the U.S. missile defense system, Bloomberg.com reported yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 20, 2002).

“Weak management oversight, inadequately designed test facilities and poor manufacturing discipline” have led to a 10-month delivery delay in the project, wrote Lt. Gen. Brian Arnold, commander of the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Command, in a Aug. 19 letter to Northrop Grumman President Ronald Sugar.  The SBIRS-High project is intended to provide a system satellites to detect and track missile launches.

“To be clear and concise, I am very concerned about your corporate commitment,” Arnold wrote.

A Northrop Grumman spokesman said the company is “confident” that is has the right personnel for the SBIRS-High project.

“We are confident that we have the right management and talent in place,” Northrop Grumman spokesman Frank Moore said (Tony Capaccio, Bloomberg.com, Sept. 15).

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