| Country: |
United States of America |
| Alternate Name: |
LGM-30G |
| Class: |
ICBM |
| Basing: |
Silo based |
| Length: |
18.20 m |
| Diameter: |
1.85 m |
| Launch Weight: |
34467 kg |
| Payload: |
3 MIRV Mk 12, or 12A, or 21 on PBV plus penetration aids |
| Warhead: |
Nuclear W62 170 kT, W78 335 to 350 kT, W87 300 to 475 kT |
| Propulsion: |
3-stage solid |
| Range: |
13000 km |
| Status: |
Operational |
| In Service: |
1970 |
Details
The LGM-30G Minuteman III is an intercontinental-range, silo-based, solid propellant ballistic missile system. The third member of the Minuteman family, it is the product of over 40 years of continual innovation and improvement. It was and remains the crux of the American nuclear deterrent. When it entered service in 1970, it brought the size of the total Minuteman force to over a thousand missiles. It is an effective response system with an extremely fast launch time, a nearly 100 percent reliability and backup airborne launch controllers to ensure a counterstrike.
The Minuteman III is a strategic asset designed to be deployed in quantity against targets in the Soviet Union. It is equipped with multiple warheads to further increase the number of targets that can be effectively attacked. It is likely targeted against major civilian population centers rather than Russian missile silos. Due to large numbers of mobile and submarine-based ICBMs, as well as early warning radar systems, a first strike with the Minuteman III would not succeed under any circumstances. For this reason, it is likely that the missile follows official US doctrine and is targeted purely against soft strategic targets such as bases and population centers. However, this system has all the characteristics of an effective counterforce weapon; its high accuracy, large numbers and multiple warheads could theoretically devastate Soviet missile silos. Its high accuracy compensated for the relatively low yield on the original model by maximizing the population density or strategic importance of a smaller target, though this is less of an issue with the 335-350 kT Mark 12A RV.
The Minuteman III missile has a maximum range of 13,000 km (8078 miles) and carries a payload of three Reentry Vehicles (RVs). The missile originally used the 170 kT yield Mark 12 RV and later, the slightly heavier 335-350 kT Mark 12A RV. However, it is reported that increasing numbers of the LGM-30G missiles are equipped with the larger and likely more accurate single 300-475 kT Mark 21 RV. The original inertial navigation system provided it with an accuracy of about 200 m CEP, but an updated inertial guidance system gives it 120 m CEP. The missile is 18.2 m long with a diameter of 1.85 m and a launch weight of 34,468 kg. The missile technically has a three-stage solid propellant design, though it has a quasi-powered fourth stage. Its Multiple Independent Reentry Vehicles (MIRV) platform was designed in such a way that it is arguably a fourth stage, but as this is restricted by the second Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT II), it is not referred to as such.
The Minuteman III entered development in 1966 as an improvement program for the earlier Minuteman missile systems. The system first entered operational service in 1970 and reached a total of 550 missiles for many years, until the LGM-118 Peacemaker program began in 1986. In 1993, 529 Minuteman III missiles remained in service, with 45 reportedly non-operational. The current 500 Minuteman III are having their service lives extended until 2020, when the LGM-30H Minuteman IV is expected to replace them. Currently 700 to 800 new SERV Mk 21 Rv warheads are being fitted to the remaining missiles.
The LGM-30G Minuteman III missiles are in the process of being downgraded to single RV designs and are undergoing a series of improvement programs to maintain combat effectiveness. The reduction in the number of warheads is occurring in order to decrease the threat from our missile systems, based on the theory that it will decrease the probability of a counterforce strike from rival nuclear nations. This effectively eliminates two-thirds of our strike capacity and has the side effect of significantly decreasing the probability of a successful counterstrike. With the planned removal of the LGM-118 Peacemaker missile, the Minuteman III will become the only US land-based ICBM in service.(1)
Footnotes
- Duncan Lennox, Jane’s Strategic Weapons Systems 46 (Surrey: Jane’s Information Group, January 2007), 190-192.
Minuteman III Test a Success
September 16, 2004 :: News
An unarmed Minuteman III ICBM was test-launched early today from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The missile traveled some 4,200 miles to the Kwajalein missile range, also known as the Ronald Reagan Test Site, in the southern Pacific Ocean. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Testing - American
» Missile details: Minuteman III
» Missile system details for: Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site (RTS)
U.S. Tests Minuteman III from Vandenberg AFB
July 23, 2004 :: News
A Minuteman III missile was launched early this morning from Vandenberg Air Force Base, the third test flight of an American ICBM from that base in a month. The missile traveled some 4,800 miles and delivered its dummy warhead to the Ronald Reagan missile range in the Kwajalein atoll. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Testing - American
» Missile details: Minuteman III
» Missile system details for: Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site (RTS)
Minuteman III Tracked by BMD Radar During Test
June 23, 2004 :: Air Force :: News
The U.S. Air Force today successfully test launched a Minuteman III ballistic missile. Launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the missile hit its target 4,200 miles away, at the Kwajalein Missile Range in the Marshall Islands. Some 500 Minuteman III missiles are deployed in the continental United States.
The test launch provided an opportunity to test the missile defense radar based on an Aegis ship, in this case the USS Paul Hamilton, and the sending of that information to the missile defense command center in Colorado Springs, to generate a fire control solution, as if the Minuteman had been a real target. (Article, Link)
» MDA release on missile tracking
» Aegis ship-based missile defense radar tracks Minuteman III
» More stories on: Testing - American
» Missile details: Minuteman III
» Missile system details for: Aegis Ship-Based BMD
