Attention Southern Californians
Please ping me with any Southern California related articles. Thank you!
If you want on or off this ping list, please FReepmail me.
Posted on 05/09/2019 5:01:53 PM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE — A flare lit up the sky early Thursday as the Air Force launched an unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile from Santa Barbara County amid a round of missile launches by North Korea.
The U.S. test missile launch was the second this month from Vandenberg Air Force Base, with the Minuteman 3 roaring out of a silo at 12:40 a.m., carrying a test re-entry vehicle.
The Global Strike Command said in a news release that the re-entry vehicle traveled 4,200 miles over the Pacific to the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
I was directly involved with either launching or maintaining ICBM's from 1976 to 1992. These launches are called Follow On Test & Evaluation launches, FOT&E (pronounced, Foot).
The planning for these launches start years in advance and the launch dates are set a year or more prior to the launch. The logistics involved is enormous and also the money to perform the shot has to be planned long before.
The missiles that are launched are actually sitting in their operational Launch Facilities (LF) at the operational bases and are randomly picked by higher headquarters for the test long before the launch date.
The scheduling at the Wing level then begins as maintenance crews and equipment must be allocated to go out to the LF and remove the Reentry System (RS) and the missile. They must then, always on the same day, place a new missile and new RS in the LF. The Missile Combat Crew, residing in the underground Launch Control Center (LCC) that is miles away then tests and runs calibrations on the new missile and guidance computer then they declare the new missile "on Alert."
The missile, guidance system, and the RS that was pulled is then shipped out to Vandenberg AFB, CA in preparation for the test. The RS is shipped without the actual reentry vehicle and a dummy reentry vehicle, with telemetry, is installed once it is out at Vandenberg AFB.
All this happens about 1.5 months prior to the launch date.
About one month prior to the launch date three select missile launch crews and one maintenance team from each shop that is needed to get the missile installed and running will head out to Vandenberg AFB. They will then install the missile in the test LF, bring the test LCC up and running, and then start the process of running the standard guidance test and calibrations, then let the guidance system run for about three weeks to let it settle in and simulate an operational environment.
At the specified time of launch the missile crews will run the launch checklist and launch the missile.
The whole operation is planned years in advance. Vandenberg AFB does not have Minuteman III missiles in storage, nor does it have the personnel to maintain and operate the missiles. Vandenberg is there for the testing and has the equipment necessary for the operational Wings to use for the planned tests.
I was honored to have been selected to launch a Minuteman III ICBM and was a part of the FOT&E program, and for the record, all three of the RV's on my missile were scored as direct hits, one RV impacting 20 feet from our designated ground zero.
I was involved in the receiving end of these tests at Kwajalein and the Broad Ocean Area (BOA) doing scoring and accuracy analysis.
They are damn accurate!
50M CEP, with most hitting inside 20M.
That's why our nuke deterrent no longer relies on SILO's. They have been targeted for decades.
"MMIII is designed to be launched on warning. We have the CCC and surveillance systems to make that a real concept. Remember, there’s 550 of them deployed and operational (of about 1,000 in existence)."
Not sure I understand.
"We also have preemptive, first strike capability with the Tridents. When combined with the MMIII, it’s simply overwhelming for any nation or groups of nations."
Tridents are also clandestine second strike. That's why they are our best nuke deterrent.
The trick is to designate the origin of the isotope, so we know who to wipe out. And no, I don't give a shit about collateral damage. Think Dresdan, Hamburg, Berlin and other Nazi cities, not to mention Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Also, think how nice they've played since.
Again, no more of our youth dying/maimed for lost causes. Just use air power and erase than from the peaceful liberty loving peoples on this rock. China nor Russia won't do sh*t other than complain to the UN.
> 50M CEP, with most hitting inside 20M.
And that’s (hopefully) the unclass number.
To hit and kill a Soviet deep underground hardened bunker, you gotta hit the nail on the head.
The remarkable thing is that, even when the reentry vehicles are not maneuverable, the accuracy is inside the wingspan of a 747, and this for a dumb rock (sorta) that is released early on the way UP of a 5000 mile ride.
(The most expensive dumb rock in the world.)
Please ping me with any Southern California related articles. Thank you!
If you want on or off this ping list, please FReepmail me.
“Not sure I understand”
Launch on warning is a concept whereby you launch ALL of your ICBMs when you detect incoming missiles. That’s whey they have pre-programmed targets.
They are out of their tubes and a thousand miles away before the first incoming arrives.
“Tridents are also clandestine second strike. That’s why they are our best nuke deterrent. “
They are actually our best first strike deterrent.
They are usually far enough forward to hit their targets within 10 minutes of launch. Taking out ICBMs and airfields, CCC facilities and everything else.
They are AT LEAST as accurate as the MMIII, closer and a much bigger payload.
In fact they won the cold war.
The existing Trident D5 will be redeployed in the new SSBNs now under development and will be in service until at least 2050.
It’s hard to improve on perfection.
Ah, good info there!
I saw a YouTube video where they had cameras set up to view the reentry vehicle hitting. The camera had about a 300 foot field of view and all the incoming warheads were hitting right in the middle of the camera view. I don’t have exact numbers of how close they were hitting but close enough that I can’t believe it matters.
These are not exactly “unarmed”... the warhead is not explosive, but there is always a payload.
Bingo.
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.