U.S. Strategic Command Public Affairs, 901 SAC Blvd, Suite 1A1, Offutt AFB NE 68113-6020
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Fact File U.S. Strategic Command Public Affairs, 901 SAC Blvd, Suite 1A1, Offutt AFB NE 68113-6020 |
The LGM-30G Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is an element of the nation's strategic deterrent forces. The "L" in LGM is the Department of Defense designation for silo-launched; "G" means surface attack; and "M" stands for guided missile.
The Minuteman is a strategic weapon system using a ballistic missile of intercontinental range. 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 President and Secretary of Defense with highly reliable, virtually instantaneous direct contact with each launch crew. Should command capability be lost between the launch control center and remote missile launch facilities, specially configured E-6B airborne launch control center aircraft automatically assume command and control of the isolated missile or missiles. Fully qualified airborne missile combat crews aboard airborne launch control center aircraft would execute the president's orders.
An extensive life extension program is underway to keep the missiles safe, secure and reliable well into the 21st century. These major programs include: replacement of the aging guidance system, remanufacture of the solid-propellant rocket motors, replacement of standby power systems, repair of launch facilities, and installation of updated, survivable communications equipment, and new command and control consoles to enhance immediate communications.
The Minuteman weapon system was conceived in the late 1950s and Minuteman I was deployed in the early 1960s. Minuteman was a revolutionary concept and an extraordinary technical achievement. Both the missile and basing components incorporated significant advances beyond the relatively slow-reacting, liquid-fueled, remotely-controlled intercontinental ballistic missiles of the previous generation. From the beginning, Minuteman missiles have provided a quick-reacting, inertially guided, highly survivable component to America's nuclear Triad. Minuteman's maintenance concept capitalizes on high reliability and a "remove and replace" approach to achieve a near 100 percent alert rate.
Through state-of-the-art improvements, the Minuteman system has evolved to meet new challenges and assume new missions. Modernization programs have resulted in new versions of the missile, expanded targeting options, improved accuracy and survivability. Today's Minuteman weapon system is the product of almost 40 years of continuous enhancement.
The current Minuteman force consists of 500 Minuteman III's located at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo., Malmstrom AFB, Mont., and Minot AFB, N.D.
Primary Function: Intercontinental ballistic missile
Contractor: Boeing Co.
Power Plant: Three solid-propellant rocket motors; first stage - Thiokol; second
stage - Aerojet-General; third stage - United Technologies Chemical Systems
Division
Length: 59.9 feet (18 meters)
Weight: 79,432 pounds (32,158 kilograms)
Diameter: 5.5 feet (1.67 meters)
Range: 6,000-plus miles (5,218 nautical miles)
Speed: Approximately 15,000 mph (Mach 23 or 24,000 kph) at burnout
Ceiling: 700 miles (1,120 kilometers)
Thrust: First stage, 202,600 pounds
Load: Re-entry vehicle: Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space MK 12 or MK 12A
Guidance systems: Inertial system: Boeing North American; ground
Electronic/security system: Sylvania Electronics Systems and Boeing Co.
Unit cost: $7 million
Date deployed: June 1970, production cessation: December 1978
Inventory: Active force, 500; Reserve, 0; ANG, 0
The Peacekeeper is capable of delivering 10 independently targeted warheads with greater accuracy than any other ballistic missile. The Air Force is in the process of deactivating the Peacekeeper Weapon System. The deactivation is the first step of President Bush's stated goal to reduce the nation's nuclear arsenal. The process to deactivate the Peacekeeper will occur over the next two years, but until the final Peacekeeper is dismantled and removed, the remaining missiles will continue to remain on alert.
The Peacekeeper is a four-stage rocket ICBM system consisting of three major sections: the boost system, the post-boost vehicle system and the re-entry system. The boost system consists of four rocket stages that launch the missile into space.
These rocket stages are mounted atop one another and fire successively. Each of the first three stages exhausts its solid propellant materials through a single movable nozzle that guides the missile along its flight path.
Following the burnout and separation of the boost system's third rocket stage, the fourth stage post-boost vehicle system, in space, maneuvers to deploy the re-entry vehicles in sequence. The post-boost vehicle system is the Peacekeeper Stage IV that has a guidance and control system and re-entry system. The post-boost vehicle rides atop the boost system, weighs about 2,500 pounds (1,333 kilograms) and is 3.5 feet (1.07 meters) long.
The top section of the Peacekeeper is the re-entry system. It consists of the deployment module, up to 10 cone-shaped re-entry vehicles and a protective shroud. The shroud protects the re-entry vehicles during ascent. It is topped with a nose cap, containing a rocket motor to separate it from the deployment module.
The deployment module provides structural support for the re-entry vehicles and carries the electronics needed to activate and deploy them. The vehicles are covered with material to protect them during re-entry through the atmosphere to their targets and are mechanically attached to the deployment module. The attachments are unlatched by gas pressure from an explosive cartridge broken by small, exploding bolts, which free the re-entry vehicles, allowing them to separate from the deployment module with little disturbance. Each deployed re-entry vehicle follows a ballistic path to its target.
The Air Force successfully conducted the first test flight of the Peacekeeper June 17, 1983, from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The missile traveled 4,190 miles (6,704 kilometers) before dropping six unarmed test reentry vehicles in the Kwajalein Missile Test Range in the Pacific Ocean.
The first two test phases consisted of 12 test flights to ensure the Peacekeeper's subsystems performed as planned, and to make final assessments of its range and payload capability. The missile was fired from above-ground canisters in its first eight tests. Thereafter, test flights were conducted from test launch facilities reconfigured to simulate operational Peacekeeper sites.
The Air Force achieved initial operational capability of 10 deployed Peacekeepers at F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo., in December 1986. Full operational capability was achieved in December 1988 with the establishment of a squadron of 50 missiles.
The Air Force Materiel Command's Ballistic Missile Office (now inactivated) began full-scale development of the Peacekeeper in 1979. This organization, formerly located at San Bernardino, Calif., integrated the activities of more than 27 civilian contractors and numerous subcontractors to develop and build the Peacekeeper system.
Primary Function: Strategic deterrence
Contractor: Boeing
Power Plant: First three stages - solid propellant; fourth stage - storable
liquid (by Thiokol, Aerojet, Hercules and Rocketdyne)
Warheads: 10
Load: Avco MK21 re-entry vehicles
Guidance System: Inertial; integration by Boeing North American, IMU by Northrop
and Boeing North American
Thrust: First stage, 500,000 pounds
Length: 71 feet (21.8 meters)
Weight: 195,000 pounds (87,750 kilograms) including re-entry vehicles
Diameter: 7 feet, 8 inches (2.3 meters)
Range: Greater than 6,000 miles (5,217 nautical miles)
Speed: Approximately 15,000 miles per hour at burnout (Mach 20 at sea level)
Date Deployed: December 1986
Unit Cost: $70 million
Inventory: Active force, 50; ANG, 0; Reserve, 0