Vandenberg launches Minuteman III

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VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AFPN) --  Vandenberg Airmen successfully conducted the final force development evaluation launch of the year from North Vandenberg Sept. 14 at 1:01 a.m. An unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile was launched to ensure the weapon system is operationally effective.

Testing the reliability and accuracy of the Minuteman III weapon system, the launch was a team effort by members of the 30th Space Wing and the 576th Flight Test Squadron here and the 91st Space Wing from Minot Air Force Base, N.D. Under the direction of the 576th, the 20th Air Force’s Airborne Launch Control System executed the launch aboard a U.S. Navy E-6B Mercury aircraft.

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

A variety of communication systems provide the president and secretary of defense with highly reliable, virtually instantaneous direct contact with each launch crew. Should command capability be lost between the launch control center and remote missile launch facilities, specially configured E-6B airborne launch control center aircraft automatically assume command and control of the isolated missile or missiles. Fully qualified airborne missile combat crews aboard airborne launch control center aircraft would execute the president's orders.

“I’ve long said that complete mission success is our standard, not our goal,” said Col. Jack Weinstein, 30th Space Wing commander. He also was the spacelift commander and final “go for launch” authority.

“Tonight these men and women proved once again they have what it takes to get the job done. They worked together flawlessly, incorporating our Navy counterparts, and ensuring 100 percent mission success in our fourth and final Minuteman III launch of the year,” Colonel Weinstein said.

To collect test data and meet safety requirements, members of the 576th performed pre-launch maintenance activities including missile emplacement and installation of unique missile tracking, telemetry and command destruct systems.

“This launch caps off an extremely busy year for the squadron,” said the mission director, Lt. Col. S. L. Davis, 576th Flight Test Squadron commander.

“While some early anomalies complicated our testing efforts, hard work and determination allowed us to accomplish our mission,” Colonel Davis said. “Unlike others, our mission is not to launch, it's to test. As the Air Force's only ICBM test squadron we must correctly assess both the accuracy and reliability of the ICBM weapon system. We have done just that.”

The missile’s single unarmed re-entry vehicle traveled approximately 4,200 miles in about 30 minutes, hitting a pre-determined target at the Ronald Reagan Test Site on the Kwajalein Atoll in the western chain of the Marshall Islands.

This operational test launch continues a long history of Western Range launches used to verify, validate and improve the capability of the nation’s ICBM force, a key component to continued global stability.