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Context

• The US military has set its latest Minuteman III missile launch to "showcase" its nuclear capability.

About

• The LGM-30 Minuteman is an American land-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
• ICBM, is an element of the nation's strategic deterrent forces under the control of the Air Force Global Strike Command.

Name

• The "L" in LGM is the Department of Defense designation for silo-launched; "G" means surface attack; "M" stands for guided missile, the 30 stands for the Minuteman series of missile and the G after “30” is the current Minuteman III.

Features

• The Minuteman is a strategic weapon system using a ballistic missile of intercontinental range.
• Missiles are dispersed in hardened silos to protect against attack and connected to an underground launch control center through a system of hardened cables. Launch crews, consisting of two officers, perform around-the-clock alerts in the launch control center.

Background

• The Minuteman weapon system was conceived in the late 1950s and Minuteman I was deployed in the early 1960s.
• Minuteman was a revolutionary concept and an extraordinary technical achievement.
• Both the missile and basing components incorporated significant advances beyond the relatively slow-reacting, liquid-fueled, remotely-controlled ICBMs of the previous generation.
• From the beginning, Minuteman missiles have provided a quick-reacting, inertially guided, highly survivable component to America's strategic deterrent program.
• Minuteman's maintenance concept capitalizes on high reliability and a "remove and replace" approach to achieve a near 100 percent alert rate.
• Through state-of-the-art improvements, the Minuteman system has evolved to meet new challenges and assume new missions.
• Modernization programs have resulted in new versions of the missile, expanded targeting options, and improved accuracy and survivability. Today's Minuteman weapon system is the product of almost 60 years of continuous enhancement.
• The current ICBM force consists of 400 Minuteman III missiles.

General Characteristics

• Primary Function: Intercontinental ballistic missile
• Contractor: Boeing Co.
• Power Plant: three solid-propellant rocket motors; First Stage ATK refurbished M55A1; Second Stage ATK refurbished SR-19; Third Stage ATK refurbished SR-73
• Technologies Chemical Systems Division Thrust: First Stage: 203,158 pounds; Second Stage: 60,793 pounds; Third Stage: 35,086 pounds
• Weight: 79,432 pounds (36,030 kilograms)
• Diameter:5 feet (1.67 meters)
• Range: 6,000-plus miles (5,218 nautical miles)
• Speed: Approximately 15,000 mph (Mach 23 or 24,000 kph) at burnout
• Ceiling: 700 miles (1,120 kilometers)

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