Northrop Grumman absorbs $71M charge over Vulcan booster anomaly
TL;DR Summary
Northrop Grumman booked a $71 million unfavorable adjustment to earnings in Q1 2026 to cover evaluation and corrective actions after a GEM 63XL booster anomaly on United Launch Alliance's Vulcan Centaur during the February USSF-87 launch. The incident shed debris but did not derail the mission; Space Force and ULA are pursuing a root-cause investigation with no fixed return-to-flight timeline, and possible Vulcan configurations without boosters are being considered.
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