SERVICE: Air Force
DESCRIPTION: The LGM-30 Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile is an element of the nation's strategic deterrent forces.
FEATURES:
The Minuteman missiles are dispersed in hardened silos to protect against attack and connected to an underground launch control center through a system of hardened cables. Launch crews consisting of two officers perform around-the-clock alert in the launch control center. A variety of communication systems provide the National Command Authorities (NCA) with highly reliable, virtually instantaneous direct contact with each launch crew. Should communication be lost between the launch control center and the remote missile launch facilities, airborne missile combat crews aboard specially configured airborne launch control aircraft automatically assume command and control to execute the National Command Authorities' orders.BACKGROUND:
The Minuteman weapons systems have been on alert since October 1962. The Minuteman I became operational with Strategic Air Command in October 1962. Replacement of Minuteman I with Minuteman II started in 1965. The current Minuteman force consists of 500 Minuteman IIIs located at F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo.; Minot AFB, N.D.; and Grand Forks AFB, N.D.:P 450 Minuteman IIs are undergoing deactivation at Whiteman AFB, Mo.; Ellsworth AFB, S.D.; and Malmstrom AFB, Mont. The basic Minuteman unit, the squadron, consists of five launch control facilities and 50 missile launch facilities. As a result of presidential initiatives to cancel development programs for new ICBMs and to retire the Peacekeeper ICBM, Minuteman will become the nation's only land-based ICBM. DoD plans a life extension program to keep Minuteman missiles viable beyond the turn of the century
