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VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- A team of Air Force Global Strike Command Airmen launched an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile equipped with a test reentry vehicle today at 3:53 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The test reentry vehicle impacted in a pre-established test area in the Pacific Ocean near the island of Guam approximately 40 minutes after launch. All test launches verify the accuracy and reliability of the ICBM weapon system, providing valuable data to ensure a safe, secure and effective nuclear deterrent. The launch team, under the direction of the 576th...

The U.S. military is looking into an incident on Saturday in which it lost communications with 50 long-range nuclear-armed missiles based in the northern United States. The U.S. Air Force's new Global Strike Command lost communications with the missiles for about 45 minutes, and says it immediately dispatched troops to inspect the sites. The check determined there was no damage and no evidence of sabotage. A spokesman for the command says investigators believe a faulty circuit board at a control center was to blame. The spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel John Thomas, says experts found that the same type of part failed...

Protest puts priest back behind bars By Cara Eastwood rep4@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - A Catholic priest with a flair for dramatic civil disobedience was arrested Friday in Weld County, Colo., for scaling the fence around a Minuteman III missile site near New Raymer, Colo. Using two ladders to scale each side of the towering chain-link fence, the 71-year-old Rev. Carl Kabat wore his signature clown suit for the demonstration and carried signs protesting the United States' nuclear arsenal. "The nuclear bomb that is on the ground here is more than 20 times more powerful than the...

37 arrested at Warren AFB Raid finds illegal workers at largest missile-defense unit By Hector Gutierrez, Rocky Mountain News February 27, 2003 Nearly 40 illegal workers were arrested Wednesday at the Francis E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, home to the country's largest strategic missile-defense unit. The raid was one of the biggest in recent memory involving national security in the region. The presence of unauthorized workers at the Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile unit, or ICBM, was an egregious security breach in which foreigners were able to penetrate a powerful U.S. military installation, officials said. The Denver District of the...