Posted on 08/16/2022 3:19:13 PM PDT by RomanSoldier19
he Air Force on Tuesday said it had successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) nearly two weeks after postponing the launch amid increased tensions with China over Taiwan.
The unarmed Minuteman III, which is capable of holding a nuclear payload, was launched at 12:49 a.m. Pacific Time from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., with its reentry vehicle landing roughly 4,200 miles away near the Marshall Islands, according to a statement from Air Force Global Strike Command.
The statement said the test demonstrated U.S. readiness and reliability, as well as the “expertise of our strategic weapons maintenance personnel and of our missile crews who maintain an unwavering vigilance to defend the homeland.”
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
Vandenberg Air Force Base
No such place.
Now it’s Vandenberg Space Force Base.
I served at Cheyenne Mt NORAD, PAVE Paws Cape Cod (6MWS) and Woomera, Australia (5DCSC). They're all missile warning/strategic sensor locations. We see Russian and Chinese launches at first light up. We fire our ICBMs at that time--before the enemy can make them dead.
What, seriously, is the point of follow-up strikes when we launch everything at first notice? It still takes time for even a rocket to get from Asia to North America. The best the Russians will do is hit EMPTY silos. The main destructors will just fly past each other on the way to certain destruction.
Anyway, that's what MAD is. MUTUALLY assured destruction.
We also know where the Russian/Iranian/Chinese leadership goes to hide. They're our first targets.
Years ago, we decided that the only thing our enemies really care about is themselves surviving a nuclear war--not their cities or people. We don't NEED to have mobile launchers for those. Also, the mobility of our nuclear strike force is in aircraft, not big trucks.
I don't know why you seem to think, just because we don't have mobile, ground crawling launchers, we're deficient in strategic mobility. We decided to use our air platforms instead. It's not the old fashioned ghost dance! We just have different options and made different choices.
If you have strategic ideas for winning a nuclear war, let's hear it. But I don't think anyone does, because, in my opinion, you can't win a nuclear war. Everyone loses.
I do agree ship killer missiles are the future and the carriers would be vulnerable. I don’t have the answers regarding them, but I think they would do well to station themselves far from mainland China like the Indian Ocean, straits of Malacca, etc., which are vital to China but beyond the range of their weapons.
Nor do I think they will use heavy missiles like the D-20. Since these can carry a nuke, the enemy/us would have to treat them as such, and then the whole world goes to a nuclear conflict which nobody wins, especially China. The Chinese aren’t that stupid, are they?
By the way, don’t be so insulting! I’m well versed on WWII Pacific history. When I was in Australia, I was lucky enough to catch the C-141 milk run back to Hickam AFB, and then the next week return flight via other islands. At the time I was reading John Tolland’s Rising Sun and William Manchester’s American Ceasar.
I was delighted to go to many of the South Pacific islands that were so prominently part of the War.
Do not confuse me with some civilian a hole from the 1930s. I much admire the Japanese and I was born in the 50s anyway.
I also believe the Japanese forces were perhaps the most fearsome enemy, man for man, we ever faced.
Chill man, I’m not your enemy!
Only used in the B-2 now.
I don’t know if the new B-21s will have them.
They could refit B-52s or B-one’s with them, but elected to take the nuke role from the B-one.
IMHO, the B83 is just too big. We’ve come so far in our ability to put a round precisely on target nowadays, I think a big explosion is just overkill. But that’s my opinion only.
Always thought an F-15 could carry B83 but may have been looking at a 61.
https://www.defensenews.com/air/2022/04/05/heres-the-new-name-of-the-us-air-forces-next-gen-nuke/
https://www.afnwc.af.mil/Weapon-Systems/Sentinel-ICBM-LGM-35A/
I’m in the weeds now buddy ...... but when I left, the new and improved was progressing at warp speed.
Stay Safe !
They are ......
And trump has nuclear secrets we wants to sell
Meanwhile, our potential adversaries have all of their many new classes of ICBMs on MOBILE launchers.
Geez a whiz....
What is it they call the Minuteman Missile fields? Ducks on a pond, I think? Their mission is basically to attract the maximum Russian first-strike to the most remote area of the US, so that our Trident D-5's can clean up the smallest possible Russian 2nd strike forces.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.