America's nearly 50-year-old nuclear deterrent missile system

The Minuteman III ballistic missile, one of the three pillars of America's nuclear deterrent, is aging with no replacement in sight.

Minuteman III missile launch procedure.

"My first order as president is to renovate and modernize the US nuclear arsenal. Hopefully we never have to use it, but America will always be the most powerful nation in the world," US President Donald Trump declared after taking office. However, the US is facing the rapid aging of its nuclear deterrent triad, the most serious of which is the ground-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), according to National Interest.

The US strategic deterrent is built on three platforms, including nuclear-armed bombers, ballistic missile submarines, and land-based ICBM launchers. Of these, ICBMs are hidden in solid concrete underground launch silos, capable of carrying the largest warheads and have high accuracy, capable of destroying the enemy's ICBM arsenal in a preemptive strike.

The US has only one type of ground-based ICBM left, the LMG-30G Minuteman III, with 450 units, deployed since 1970. The newer LGM-118 Peacekeeper series was deployed since 1986 but was completely retired in 2005.

The development of the Minuteman family began in the mid-1950s, building on a series of advances in solid-fuel engines. These weapons had many advantages, including the ability to remain ready for combat for long periods of time without requiring much maintenance, and very short preparation times for launch. Meanwhile, liquid-fueled missiles required hours to fuel before launch, making them vulnerable to destruction in a surprise first strike.

The Minuteman I version was commissioned in 1962 with the mission of deterring the Soviet Union. However, the advent of the Polaris ballistic missilewith similar roleThe US Navy's subsequent acquisition of the missile prompted the US Air Force to adapt the Minuteman line, increasing its accuracy and allowing it to strike military targets, including Soviet ICBM silos.

The Minuteman II variant entered combat duty in 1965 with a series of major upgrades to improve accuracy and survivability against the then-developing Moscow ballistic missile shield. The Minuteman III, introduced in 1970, used multiple small warheads instead of one large warhead, making it very difficult to intercept.

The power of the Minuteman III missile.

Minuteman III became the world's first ICBM equipped with multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs). Each missile has a range of over 13,000 km and carries up to three nuclear warheads, each with a destructive power equivalent to 32 Hiroshima-class atomic bombs.

The U.S. land-based ICBM force peaked in the late 1970s with 1,000 operational missiles. That number has steadily declined to 450 today, spread across Malmstrom, Minot, and F.E. Warren air bases. By February 2018, it will be down to 400 operational missiles and 50 unwarred missiles in storage.

The Air Force still wants to maintain its Minuteman III arsenal until 2030, but the deterioration may force it to look for alternatives. The most likely solution right now is the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD). According to Northrop Grumman, GBSD will overhaul the entire current ICBM system, adding new missiles, modern launch control centers, and supporting logistics.

However, the GBSD's thermonuclear warhead will be reused from the Minuteman III missile, and the launch silo system will also be reused instead of being completely new.

Minuteman III is one of the three pillars of the US nuclear deterrent. Click on image to see full size.

The GBSD missile could have similar features to the Minuteman III, especially its 13,000 km range. This would ensure that Washington could strike any enemy country in the northern hemisphere, while the southern hemisphere would be unrivaled. In addition, the US-Russia warhead control treaty means that the missile does not need to be larger.

However, many experts are skeptical about the project. Washington does not really need these weapons, especially when advances in submarine-launched ballistic missile technology have made them as powerful as land-based ICBMs. Investing a large amount of money in a new ICBM system may not be as effective as the US Air Force expects, military expert Kyle Mizokami said.

According to VNE