by Hassan D. Green, Warrior Contributor
A strategic change is on the horizon in the U.S. Air Force and involves a part of its firepower repertoire. The array of our current intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) is in focus as the current LGM-30 Minuteman III ICBMs will be replaced after over 50 years in service.
The Air Force Sentinel program is quietly progressing forward with continued tests, assessments and requirements analysis, despite the widespread press reporting that the program is behind schedule and over budget.
The new LGM-35A Sentinel will be the new ICBM of choice for decades to come, set to become operational by 2029. These weapons, formerly known as the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD), are currently being developed by the Air Force Global Strike Command, in association with aerospace and defense company, Northrop Grumman, as first reported on the official U.S. Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center website.
Northrop Grumman was awarded a $13.3 billion contract from the Department of the Air Force in 2020 for the development of this new intercontinental ballistic missile.
Several companies working in subcontracting capacities under Northrup Grumman for the LGM-35 include General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Honeywell, Aerojet Rocketdyne, Bechtel, Parsons, Textron, and others who are familiar with defense contracting. This has been an ongoing upgrade effort that’s been in the works for approximately 10 years, so far.
This new ICMB design will include a W87-1 nuclear warhead with a range of more than 5,500km
For the last five decades, there have been 400 LGM-30 Minuteman III ICBMs that were available for military strikes. The Minuteman III has been known as the most responsive leg of the U.S. nuclear triad, a national force that can strike from land, sea, and especially in this case, also from the air. But with fifty years under its belt, the Air Force considers this an aging capability.
The infrastructure system within the Minuteman III ICBM still utilizes some of the original equipment that was in existence before officially becoming operational in the early 1970s. This is all considering improvements to the system’s components and subsystems, naturally.
With this impending upgrade, the Sentinels ICBMs will replace the Minuteman III ICBMs in Air Force missile fields at F.E. Warren Air Force Base (AFB), Wyoming; Minot AFB, North Dakota; and Malmstrom AFB, Montana.
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Maintenance, training, storage, testing, and support actions will occur also at Hill AFB, Utah; Utah Test and Training Range, Utah; Camp Guernsey, Wyoming; and Camp Navajo, Arizona.
Over the next five years, existing facilities for missile launches, missile alerts, infrastructure, communications, and other technologies will be modernized in efforts to support the new incoming system. The outgoing Minuteman ICBMs will be decommissioned, which requires demilitarization and disposal activities, also according to the U.S. Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center.
Over the last 12 months, the Sentinel has completed its first full-scale static test fire of the Sentinel stage-one solid rocket motor, as well as a live, static-fire test of its stage-two solid rocket motor, occurring as recently as January 2024.
Once operable, the Sentinel weapon system is believed to be the most cost-effective option for maintaining a safe, secure, and effective land-based leg of the nuclear triad, as far in advance as the year 2075.
Hassan D. Green, Warrior Contributor, is currently a research editor in the Buffalo, NY area
