Northrop Grumman to upgrade launch control centers for Minuteman III nuclear missiles at Montana base
HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah – Missile command-and-control experts at Northrop Grumman Corp. will upgrade launch control centers for Minuteman III nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont. under terms of a $7.8 million order announced this week.
Officials of the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, are asking the Northrop Grumman Defense Systems segment in Herndon, Va., to carry out Minuteman III Launch Control Center Block Upgrade production at the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont. -- also known as Malmstrom Wing I.
The Minuteman III Launch Control Center Block Upgrade project is part of the Minuteman Ground and Communications Equipment program, which replaces obsolete and unsupportable ground-based weapon system equipment necessary to continue Minuteman III operations through 2030.
The Minuteman III fleet constitutes one-third of the nation's nuclear weapons deterrent. Other U.S nuclear warheads are on submarine-launched ballistic missiles and on manned jet bombers.
The Minuteman III Launch Control Center Block Upgrade also will help reduce the technological risks of replacing the Minuteman III nuclear missiles with the next-generation Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD).
Northrop Grumman won a $13.3 billion contract last fall to design the GBSD. The company will provide engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) for the GBSD at a newly built facility in Roy, Utah, adjacent to Hill Air Force Base. The GBSD missiles should be operational by 2029.
Each of today's Minuteman III missiles is 60 feet tall, 5.5 feet in diameter, and powered by three solid rocket motors that can launch the 80,000-pound missile to altitudes of 700 miles to deliver nuclear warheads as far away as 6,500 miles. Each missile contains as many as three independently targeted warheads in separate reentry vehicles.
Related: Air Force asks Boeing to upgrade test gear for nation's Minuteman III nuclear missiles
The U.S. maintains Minuteman III missiles at 450 missile sites in Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Wyoming. The missiles themselves are in underground silos and are ready for launch on very short notice.
Minuteman III computer programs are stored on a magnetic tape cartridge. The computer also controls the alignment of the inertial measurement unit, and performs test and monitoring of the missile's guidance and control system. Other parts of the Minuteman-III's latest guidance system include the Gyro Stabilized Platform (GSP), Digital Control Unit (DCU), Missile Guidance Set Control (MGSC), and the Amplifier Assembly.
On this contract Northrop Grumman will do the work in Ogden, Utah, and should be finished by August 2022. For more information contact Northrop Grumman Defense Systems online at www.northropgrumman.com, or the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center at www.afnwc.af.mil.
John Keller | Editor-in-Chief
John Keller is the Editor-in-Chief, Military & Aerospace Electronics Magazine--provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronics and optoelectronic technologies in military, space and commercial aviation applications. John has been a member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since 1989 and chief editor since 1995.
