Free Republic

The Air Force’s next-generation intercontinental ballistic missile has a new moniker. Known by the clunky name of Ground Based Strategic Deterrent, or GBSD, the weapon system under development has officially been designated as Sentinel. Land-based ICBMs have made up one part of the nation’s nuclear triad for decades. “The name Sentinel recognizes the mindset that thousands of airmen, past and present, have brought to the deterrence mission, and will serve as a reminder for those who operate, secure and maintain this system in the future about the discipline and responsibility their duty entails,” Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said. The...

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – A test launch of an unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile Minuteman III failed and the cause is unknown and being investigated, the US Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC) said on Wednesday. "An unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile test launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, experienced a ground abort prior to launch. The cause of the ground abort is currently under investigation, and Air Force Global Strike Command is assessing the potential to reschedule the launch", AFGSC said in a press release. The three-stage land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles of the Minuteman family were originally intended for...

The U.S. Air Force has announced its strategy for replacing America’s Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles—which have stood alert, awaiting Armageddon, for nearly five decades. Making nukes is hard. But squeezing another multi-billion-dollar project into the Air Force’s already bulging budget is perhaps the bigger challenge. We’re talking about the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent, an effort to replace the stockpile of Minuteman nuclear missiles Boeing built for the Pentagon back in the late 1960s.