Posted on 06/25/2010 2:42:09 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
Despite an ongoing Defense Department review of potential follow-on options for the Air Force's premiere intercontinental ballistic missile program, development of a new ICBM system will not be one of those options, Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said today.
While the final results and subsequent recommendations from the Minuteman III ICBM review are not due for months, the service is not ready to dedicate funding or other resources toward the development of a new nuclear missile, Donley said during a breakfast in Washington.
“We have already taken steps to get [the Minuteman III] to 2020; now we are focused on getting it to 2030,” Donley said. “I do not yet think we are at the point where we are ready to make a commitment to a . . . Minuteman IV [ICBM]. We are just not at that point.”
Mandated by the Defense Department’s new Nuclear Posture Review, the ongoing evaluation of the Minuteman III ICBM has focused on the weapon's viability beyond 2030, and potential future basing options in the continental United States.
Currently, DOD has 450 Minuteman III ICBMs deployed across the continental United States, each with one to three warheads. However, U.S. and Russian officials agreed to set a limit a limit of 1,550 accountable strategic warheads, along with a separate limit of 700 deployed ICBMs.
START negotiators also agreed to cut the number of warheads on all Minuteman III ICBMs to one per missile, as part of the new START treaty agreed to by the two countries earlier this year.
While DOD and the Air Force are not in a position to begin exploring development of a new ICBM, should the Pentagon and the service eventually decide to stand up a new program, there may not be a viable industrial base to support that effort
(Excerpt) Read more at defense.iwpnewsstand.com ...
Congress has abdicated its constitution duties for convenience and internal political gain!
Ping
Treason.
War.
Bring back the neutron bomb!
We won’t test our nuclear bombs to see if they still work so why build a new ICBM if it only will carry a fizzle bomb?
Or we'll just do what we're doing with our manned space program: We'll get the Russians to provide the lift...
How about re-activate just 4 Peacekeepers.
2 pointed to NK.
2 pointed to Iran.
Save the Minutemen for China and Russia.
All of them are apart of the Minotaur space project and some of those silos at Whiteman AFB have been imploded.
You may have some servicable silos at FE Warren AFB
I do have a correction. Whiteman AFB held Minuteman missiles. FE Warren AFB(400 Missile Squadron) held the Peacekeeper missile.
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