Twentieth Air Force, Northrop Grumman, SMC celebrate Minuteman III completion

Airman 1st Class Charles Bostic, 90th Missile Maintenance Squadron, inspects the bottom of the mating surface on the missile guidance system in a payload transporter (U.S. Air Force photo by Shelley Raffl).

Photo Details / Download Hi-Res

Twentieth Air Force, Northrop Grumman, SMC celebrate Minuteman III completion

Published March 7, 2008
By Tech. Sgt. Kurt Arkenberg
90th Space Wing Public Affairs

F.E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, Wyo. -- Leaders from Twentieth Air Force, Northrop Grumman and the Space and Missile Systems Center met Feb. 25 at Warren to announce the completion of the Guidance Replacement Program on the Minuteman III weapon system.

Maj. Gen. Roger W. Burg, 20th AF commander; John Clay, Northrop Grumman sector vice president and ICBM prime integration contract general manager; and Douglas Loverro, Space and Missile Systems Center executive director, met with media to discuss the success of the upgrade program and what it means to the capability of the system.

"We are fully operational and capable," General Burg said during his opening comments. "We have successfully deployed 450 new guidance sets throughout the missile fields of Malmstrom (Air Force Base, Mont.), Minot (AFB, N.D.) and here at Warren. It was done on time and on budget."

The $2.4 billion project began in 1999 and finished Jan. 18 at Minot when the last NS-20 missile guidance set was removed and replaced by the newer NS-50 MGS. The GRP primary modification provides the warfighter updated guidance electronics while maintaining accuracy. This upgrade replaced the guidance computer and software, while still using the existing gyro stabilized platform.

According to the general, the MMIII has had the same guidance set since the system's inception in the late 1960s.

"Technology has progressed by leaps and bounds since the first Minuteman III rolled off the assembly line," General Burg said. "This program ensures we will have a credible, capable nuclear deterrent through 2030."

Mr. Clay echoed the general's thoughts and highlighted the reliability of the guidance set.
"The old guidance set averaged a failure indicator about every 7,000 hours," Mr. Clay said. "That number is up to roughly one indicator every 27,000 hours (with the new MGS), which translates to a more reliable and capable weapon system."

In addition to the GRP, the MMIII missile is undergoing modification and upgrade projects to the propulsion system and the reentry vehicle that, when completed, will essentially leave the Minuteman as a new weapon system from nose cone to nozzle.