New strategic missile

The Washington Times ^ | 9-23-05 | Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough

[JZelle]

The Air Force is reviewing plans to modernize the U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile force, now made up of 500 single-warhead Minuteman IIIs, including plans for a new ICBM. A report on the effort includes options for extending the life of the aging Minuteman III force through 2020, and building a new missile system as a replacement, said Air Force Gen. Lance Lord, commander of Air Force Space Command who took part in a study of the options for the ground-based ICBM force. A ceremony was held Monday to mark the deactivation of the last of 50 Peacekeeper 10-warhead ICBMs in Wyoming. Gen. Lord said in an interview that plans call for extending the life of the Minuteman IIIs through the next decade. The single-warhead missiles, first deployed in 1970, are being upgraded with new propulsion systems, new guidance packages, heating and ventilation work on silos, shielded communications, and better command and control systems. But the Pentagon will need a new system to replace the Minuteman IIIs beginning about 2018. "We'll look at what's the best way to get to a replacement system over the years ahead," Gen. Lord said. "We're looking at perhaps a spiral approach to that, ... a follow on [missile] and what's the best basing mode." Gen. Lord said the nuclear deterrence mission has not changed. "We're with a 500 [missile] day-to-day high-alert force that is our deterrent capability that this nation depends on every day," Gen. Lord said. "We're proud to do that, until told otherwise."

[JZelle]

What happens when the democrats are in charge?

[andyk]

I had no idea we rely on single-warhead missiles.

[NonValueAdded]

MIRV's would give us an unfair advantage so we're spotting our enemies a few points in the first quarter of the game.

[Williams]

Is this accurate? I'm shocked to be hearing we rely on ony 500 single warhead missiles. If the Minuteman III is the most modern I was sure it was MIRV'd. Plus we had well over 1000 ICBM's. have we retired that many?

[Mariner]

On any given day we have 2-4 Trident boats at sea.

We don't "rely" on single-warhead missles for either strike or deterrence. The boomers are capable of both.

[operation clinton cleanup]

I had no idea we rely on single-warhead missiles.

Luckily the Navy does not. I had no idea we were decommissioning the Peacekeepers, our newest ICBM system.

[Williams]

True of course, and there are lots of other nuclear weapons available on planes, etc. But the land based system has always had the heaviest warheads, and offers the best command and control. We cut back because of arms agreements with Russia which is fine, but my concern is a s China keeps building a larger and mobile land based missile force.

[andyk]

Yeah, thanks for the reminder about our boomers. I'm still a little surprised that our land-based missiles are single-warhead.

[MARKUSPRIME]

We had mirv'd peacekeepers but a deal with russia was to scrap them. Bad move In my opinion. The Trident missles on ohio class subs are mirv though.

[andyk]

I had no idea we were decommissioning the Peacekeepers, our newest ICBM system.

I thought the Peacekeepers were newer, but it was hard to tell from the story. I suppose they must be a lot more expensive, if we're phasing them out in favor of the aged Minuteman IIIs.

[TalonDJ]

The START II in 1993 treaty required elimination of all MIRV missles. The oringinal timeline was by the end of last year.

[operation clinton cleanup]

"What we looked at is a conventional ICBM that has the inherent capability of a [nuclear] ICBM, with its accuracy, speed and range," Gen. Lord said. "Those military characteristics are attractive for a particular set of targets."

I suppose a reentry vehicle screaming out of orbit at several thousand miles per hour would make an effective bunker buster, no matter what kind of warhead was on board.

[SJSAMPLE]

Throw weight. The same problem that affected our sub-launched missiles. A missile needs to heft a warhead (or warheadS) of significant tonnage.

Soviet silos were significantly "hardened" and the accuracy of our missiles required that we put more "oomph" into warheads intended for hard targets. MIRVs were intended for cities and other soft targets.

Our shift away from a MAD strategy put more focus onto weapons complexes and silos.

[Alter Kaker]

MIRVs were banned by START II, a treaty George Bush drafted and signed and the Senate ratified.

[TalonDJ]

The PeaceKeeper WAS The most modern. Minuteman IIIs CAN hold 3 mk12A warheads but they don't due to treaty.

[andyk]

The START II in 1993 treaty required elimination of all MIRV missles.

Land-based only? How do we get to keep the MIRVs in our boomers?

[andyk]

Thanks for all the great info, folks. I'm going to go drink some beer with my brother and munch on the trout we caught earlier this week. Have a great weekend everyone!!

[theFIRMbss]

>MIRV's would give us an unfair advantage so we're spotting our enemies a few points in the first quarter of the game

Even a single
carrier group delivers
so much force, missles

seem almost pointless.
In the modern world, is there
a "task" for missles?!

[ops33]

What happened to the Peacekeeper MIRV missle?