Air Force Bases

Minuteman Missile System

General Information
Overview
Background of the development of the Minuteman.
Here's how the Minuteman operates.
This is how emergency communications to the missile sites work.
Here's the Missile Alert Facility information
Flight Sequence of the Minuteman
Minuteman Flight Control Equipment and Engines
Minuteman Guidance System
Minuteman Flight Computer
Here's how the site locations were choosen.
Construction of a Minuteman site
Configuration of a typical Minuteman Site
Upgrades to the Minuteman System
Re-entry Vehicle
Here is the story of the first Silo Launch of a Minuteman.
Retiring a Minuteman
Destruction of Minuteman Silos
Here are a bunch of photos of a Minuteman III Site.
History of missiles at Ellsworth AFB, which had both Titan I and Minuteman Missiles
Here's the History of Missiles at F.E. Warren AFB in Wyoming, which hosts Atlas, Minuteman, and Peacekeeper Missiles
History of Minuteman Missiles at Grand Forks AFB
History of Minuteman Missiles at Whiteman AFB
History of Minuteman Missiles at Malmstrom AFB
History of Minuteman Missiles at Minot AFB
Minuteman Missile National Historic Site
Realignment of Minuteman at Grand Forks AFB

Minuteman I
Minuteman II
Minuteman III
Minuteman I
Overview
Development History
Major Features
Minuteman II
Overview
Development History
Major Features
Deactivation of the Minuteman II
Deactivation at Ellsworth AFB
Three remaining Minuteman II Sites
Minuteman III
Overview
Development History
Major Features

In the late 1950s advances in solid-fuel propellants enabled the Air Force to develop its first solid-fuel ICBM, the Minuteman I (LGM-3OA/B). Formal development began in September 1958, and after an extraordinarily rapid development program, the Air Force put its first ten Minuteman ICBMs on operational alert at Malmstrom AFB, Montana, in October 1962. Deployment proceeded at an equally furious pace, and within 5 years 1,000 of the solid-fuel missiles stood poised in their silos. Twice the Air Force modernized the Minuteman, greatly enhancing its capabilities. It deployed the first Minuteman IIs (LGM-30F) in 1966 and the first Minuteman IIIs (LGM-3OG) in 1971. The Minuteman III was the first ICBM to be fitted with multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs) that enabled a single missile to carry up to three warheads, each aimed at a different target. The Minuteman force remained at 1,000 missiles for most of the Cold War. Although 450 Minuteman IIs were taken off operational alert in 1991, 500 Minuteman IIIs will remain on duty well into the twenty-first century.