Warren’s Minuteman III modernization

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Chad Thompson
  • 90th Space Wing Public Affairs
F. E. Warren AFB, Wyo. --  Warren has been home to one of the nation's largest and most modern strategic missile units since Sept. 2, 1960, when the Air Force declared the 564th Strategic Missile Squadron as the first fully operational ICBM squadron.

Today, the 90th Space Wing operates 150 Minuteman III missiles on alert 24 hours a day with a force of 4,000 military members and about 950 civilian employees.

Warren's Minuteman III missiles are deployed over a 9,600-square mile area in eastern Wyoming, western Nebraska and northern Colorado.

Since its inception in the 1950s, the Minuteman weapon system has undergone various upgrades to meet the mission of the "Mighty Ninety"; "To defend America with the world's most powerful combat ready ICBM force: maintain a safe and secure strategic deterrent capability and provide means for prompt global strike. On Time, Any Time, Every Time."

Today's Minuteman III is the product of almost 30 years of continuous enhancement. From upgrades in an aging guidance system to remanufacturing the solid-propellant rocket motors to replacing standby power systems, the Minuteman III has gone through some major changes.

It's these large scale system upgrades that have kept the missile operational to meet mission demands, said Master Sgt. Gary Smith, Twentieth Air Force.

The 90th SW was the first missile wing selected to upgrade Minuteman III launch control centers with the Rapid Execution and Combat Targeting modification. Existing launch control centers had not been upgraded significantly since being brought online in the early 1960s.

This wasn't the only upgrade, and it won't be the last.

There is a modernization plan under way to upgrade the Minuteman III so to exceed its current 2020 lifespan, said Sergeant Smith.

"Some of the most recent upgrades we have done are enhancing the weapon systems security, improving the surge protection program and upgrading our test stations," Sergeant Smith said.

"The test station upgrade was one of the largest parts of the program we have done thus far," he added. "The old system probably hasn't been updated in over 30 years; the technology was archaic."

These upgrades are going to help bring the missiles up to speed with today's technology, Sergeant Smith said.

"It will help speed up processes and hopefully help meet a lot of the demands that we put on our equipment," he said.

Some of the other projects still under way are repairing and updating launch facilities and installing updated survivable communications equipment.

Regardless of the demands, the men and women of the 90th SW's continued vigilance to mission accomplishment and the planned modernization programs will help ensure that Minuteman III will remain an intimidating weapon system well into the 21st Century.