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The Military United States

Behind the Scenes at a Minuteman ICBM Test Launch (airandspaceforces.com) 61

Tuesday at California's Vandenberg Space Force base, the U.S. launched a Minuteman III missile, "in an important test of the weapon's ability to strike its targets with multiple warheads," according to Air and Space Forces magazine: The Minuteman III missiles that form a critical leg of the U.S. nuclear triad each carry one nuclear-armed reentry vehicle. But the missile that was tested carried three test warheads... The intercontinental ballastic missile (ICBM) test was controlled by an airborne command post in a test of the U.S. ability to launch its nuclear deterrent from a survivable platform.... Gen. Thomas A. Bussiere, the commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, said in a release: "An airborne launch validates the survivability of our ICBMs, which serve as the strategic backstop of our nation's defense and defense of allies and partners...."

The three test reentry vehicles — one high-fidelity Joint Test Assembly, which carries non-nuclear explosives, and two telemetry Joint Test Assembly objects — struck the Reagan Test Site near the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands roughly 30 minutes later after launch, a flight of about 4,200 miles. "They make up essentially a mock warhead," Col. Dustin Harmon, the commander of the 377th Test and Evaluation Group, the nation's operational ICBM test unit, said in an interview with Air & Space Forces Magazine. "There's two different types. One is telemetered, so it's got a radio transmitter in it, it's got antennas, gyroscopes, accelerometers — all the things that can sense motion and movement. And we fly those or we can put one in there that's called a high-fidelity. That is assembled much like an actual weapon would be, except we use surrogate materials, and so we want it to fly similarly to an actual weapon. ... It has the explosives in it that a normal warhead would to drive a detonation, but there's nothing to drive...."

The U.S. government formally notified Russia in advance of the launch in accordance with a 1988 bilateral agreement. More than 145 countries were also provided with advance notice of the launch under the Hague Code of Conduct — an international understanding on launch notifications. The U.S. also provided advance notice to China, a DOD spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine. China notified the U.S. of an ICBM launch over the Pacific Ocean in September. There is no formal agreement between Washington and Beijing that requires such notifications, but each side provided them to avoid miscalculations.

Test launches happen three times a year, according to the article, yielding "several gigabytes of data" about reentry vehicles, subsystems, and payloads. "There are 400 Minuteman III missiles currently in service across Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Wyoming."

Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader SonicSpike for sharing the article.

Behind the Scenes at a Minuteman ICBM Test Launch

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  • Sounds good to me (Score:4, Informative)

    by viperidaenz ( 2515578 ) on Saturday November 09, 2024 @05:04PM (#64933729)

    USA tests work perfectly fine
    Russia tests explode in the silo before launch.

    • by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Litte detail there people like you do not get: A nuclear attack in Russia kills the US as well (and the rest of the human race) due to no agriculture after that for 100 years or so. The whole thing is just a complete waste of money and effort.

      • Unless the Russians launching the missiles defect, or aren't at their post cause they were redeployed to Ukraine to be slaughtered on the front lines, and the rest of the launches fail like their recent tests.

  • Thinking about it just a little and knowing that the typical nuclear bomb explodes above it's target, I'd guess immediately after satisfying the needed conditions they destroy the package just to keep the test article from cratering. Although I can't imagine I'd want to be anywhere near the shredded material either. Maybe there's a different reason? Maybe just need to make things go 'boom'?
    • by Waffle Iron ( 339739 ) on Saturday November 09, 2024 @05:59PM (#64933865)

      I presume it's because a proper nuclear detonation requires a very precisely timed implosion with multiple triggers. They probably have sensors where the fission core would be to verify that the explosives perform within planned parameters even after going through the stress of launch and reentry.

    • by ksw_92 ( 5249207 )

      Probably to fully test the PAL, arming and detonation systems. The explosives in the RVs weapon payload are the very last thing to be commanded. After that, its just physics.
      TFA stated that they tested a new airborne control system with this launch. A full-on test of C&C all the way to the "boom" seems like a good idea.

  • by SuperDre ( 982372 ) on Saturday November 09, 2024 @05:37PM (#64933789) Homepage
    Pointing fingers to countries which test their own long range ballistic missiles, and yet doing the same thing and expanding your own arsenal is just being a big hypocrite. As long as the US is still creating new nukes and expanding their arsenal, any other country has the same right to do so as a protection against the bullies like the US.
    • as a protection against the bullies like the US.

      So tell us, which country, or part of a country, is the U.S. currently occupying and claiming as part of the U.S.? In fact, which country has the U.S. recently invaded with hundreds of thousands of troops? Tell us which country the U.S. has been bribing people to vote a certain way.

      Yeah, thought so. Considering the U.S. is only doing the test as the result of another country testing (and failing) its own nuclear missile launch, how is this the fault of the

      • The base was leased over 100 years ago for payments of $2000 in gold coins per year. The lease had no expiration date and no mechanism for inflation, it is leased for less than you pay for your monthly apartment rent.

        The government of Cuba argues[6] that the base is a constant affront to its sovereignty, taken under duress and maintained under the threat of atomic force. It has complained that weapons are smuggled into Cuba through the base and that the base shelters criminals fleeing from Cuban justice. Th

    • If you're talking about this test [bbc.com], the complaints seem to have been about the lack of warning prior to shooting the missile.

      I haven't heard of the US expanding their arsenal [wikipedia.org]. They are modernizing it.
  • by david.emery ( 127135 ) on Saturday November 09, 2024 @05:52PM (#64933847)

    except we use surrogate materials, and so we want it to fly similarly to an actual weapon.
    I presume you'd need something close in density to the warhead's plutonium or whatever the fissile material is, to get similar performance with the same overall density... But of course, with no explosion, the surrogate wouldn't be consumed. So that kinda implies something that is not significantly lethal when dispersed after the warhead lands.

  • Let AI hand the control of this, humans are too stupid and emotional to be capable of controlling nuclear launches. It’s virtually guaranteed a human, likely a MAGA type, will start nuclear war at some point. Of course they will frame it as defensive.

  • by dsgrntlxmply ( 610492 ) on Saturday November 09, 2024 @06:47PM (#64933941)
    Long ago I worked with a guy who had an unusual framed item on his office wall. It was a certificate commemorating his being one of the two guys on launch keys for a Minuteman test launch. For a while, one could buy a surplus Minuteman I guidance computer (Autonetics D-17B). I saw one in a lab at UCLA. The physical construction was very interesting. See the Wikipedia article on D-17B for pictures..
  • There is no formal agreement between Washington and Beijing that requires such notifications, but each side provided them to avoid miscalculations.

    No formal agreement? What could possibly go wrong?

  • I have come to the conclusion that your new defense system sucks.

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