Minuteman III Test Launch From VAFB(Vandenberg Air Force Base) A Success

[Purveyor]

Source: KSBY News

Posted: Sep 22, 2013 1:14 PM by Lindsay MacLeod, KSBY News

Vandenberg Air Force Base reports an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile successfully launched Sunday at 3:01 a.m.

The launch was part of a test launch. The missile travelled 4200 miles to the Marshall Islands. The Department of Defense and the Department of Energy will use data from the test to ensure a safe and secure nuclear deterrent, which they say is crucial for national security.

"The test launch is the culmination of months of hard work and preparation. The invaluable data we collect helps us to validate the functionality and performance of system components," said Col. Lance Kawane, 576th Flight Test Squadron Commander.

Another Minuteman III test launch out of Vandenberg is scheduled for September 26th.

Read more: http://www.ksby.com/news/minuteman-iii-test-launch-from-vafb-a-success/

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Anyone awake out their this morning to see this baby 'touched off'?

[jakeXT]

1. I've only seen pictures from May

http://www.vandenberg.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123349601

September 26 of this next week is significant because it is the day scheduled for high-level talks in the UN for nuclear disarmament in New York. It seems a bit incongruous that we would participate in high-level talks with many world leaders about nuclear disarmament when we plan on testing an ICBM capable of deploying any one of our 7,700 nuclear warheads to anywhere in the world. (This number of warheads is according to Global Zero a group promoting the elimination of all nuclear weapons in the world.) This nuclear weapons test from Vandenberg Air Force Base seems a bit ill timed.
http://guardianlv.com/2013/09/nuclear-weapons-test-from-vandenberg-air-force-base/

[Purveyor]

2. I would have so waited up to see that launch if I lived anywhere close and knew it was happening.

Thanks for the pics from the earlier launch.

God forbid should we every have to use these things for real...

[pinboy3niner]

3. Photo of today's launch and a video link:

Video at link (scroll down for video):
http://www.noozhawk.com/article/minuteman_iii_rocket_launched_from_vandenberg_air_force_base_20130922

[Purveyor]

4. Nice. Thanks for posting... eom

[pinboy3niner]

33. My little brother used to work at VAFB

He was a civilian overseeing labor relations there. He's gone now, but he and I much preferred seeing the space shuttle landings there.

[Purveyor]

34. Wasn't VAFB once slated to be a launch site for the shuttle? What happened with that? eom

[pinboy3niner]

35. I don't know about it being slated to be a launch site

But landings were made there when weather in FL was bad.

[Purveyor]

36. Well I had to go look and found this: Space Launch Complex-6 (SLC-6, nicknamed "Slick Six") at VAFB

Space Launch Complex-6 (SLC-6, nicknamed "Slick Six&quot at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California is a launch pad and support area. It was originally designed for the launching of the Titan III in support of the cancelled Manned Orbiting Laboratory, and was later rebuilt for the Space Shuttle, which also never used it due to budget, safety and political considerations.

It was subsequently used briefly by Athena rockets, before being remodified to support the Delta IV family of unmanned launchers, which have used the pad since 2006. Launches from SLC-6 fly southward into a polar orbit, not eastward as is typical of launches from Florida.

MORE...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vandenberg_AFB_Space_Launch_Complex_6

[pinboy3niner]

37. iirc, there were at least two times when the Shuttle had to land there

I could be wrong, but that's what I remember.

[Purveyor]

38. Yeah, I remember a couple. eom

[Ghost Dog]

11. Oh Fuck. Not nice.

... Choosing these dates looks par for the course for USA's highly militarised style of diplomacy...

[Celefin]

12. *shudder*

Yeah it looks cool... seen from space the end of civilization will probably look fantastic.

Can't help myself but to think of how this view would feel if you knew this wasn't a test launch.
Brrr.

[sir pball]

13. They're even prettier coming down..

Testing of the Peacekeeper reentry vehicles, all eight (ten capable) fired from only one missile. Each line represents the path of a warhead which, if it were live, would detonate with the explosive power of twenty-five Hiroshima-style weapons

- Wikipedia

Sweet dreams..

[Celefin]

17. War. War never changes.

The earth was nearly wiped clean of life. A great cleansing, an atomic spark struck by human hands, quickly raged out of control. Spears of nuclear fire rained from the skies. Continents were swallowed in flames and fell beneath the boiling oceans. Humanity was almost extinguished, their spirits becoming part of the background radiation that blanketed the earth.

-Fallout 2 intro

I've always felt the game was an extremely realistic scenario, especially the descriptions of the run-up to the nuclear holocaust.

It's still totally beyond me how anybody could even think of using such monstrous weapons, on a planetary scale no less.

Thanks for your reply and sweet dreams indeed... awesome picture in its own right.

[LadyHawkAZ]

9. I used to love watching the dawn and dusk launches from Vandenberg

[Alamuti Lotus]

5. Testing nuclear weapons delivery system...while trying to start a war over "WMD"

It's not as hypocritical as it sounds, really!

[Plucketeer]

6. Really impressive

As the fuel burned away - I wonder how much in food stamps each second was worth.

Of course, I'll sleep more secure tonight - knowing we're holding the forefront of technology!

[SunnaW]

27. A Minuteman III cost $7 Million

But that information (http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/icbm/lgm-30_3.htm) is pretty old.

According to this website: http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/missile-envy-modernizing-the-us-icbm-force-06059/

The USAF's ICBM Prime Integration Contract covers modernization of ***thousands*** of missile propulsion, guidance, re-entry, and ground system components. The goal is to extend the US Minuteman III ICBM’s life to 2030.

Some of the larger programs covered by the contract include:

ICBM Security Modernization Program, which is implementing steps to keep nuclear-tipped ICBMs securely in their silos;

Safety Enhanced Re-entry Vehicle (SERV) Program, which is fitting Minuteman III ICBMs with the Mk 21 re-entry vehicle from the decommissioned Peacekeeper missile force – a change that will provide US Strategic Command planners with increased targeting flexibility and enhanced safety;

Propulsion Replacement Program, which is remanufacturing motors to replace Minuteman III’s aging propellant to maintain booster reliability;

Guidance Replacement Program, which is substituting the NS-50 missile guidance set for aging 1960s vintage guidance electronics, improving flight reliability, system maintainability, and nuclear safety;

Propulsion System Rocket Engine Life Extension Program, which is replacing engine components originally produced in the 1970s that had a 10-year design life;

Rapid Execution and Combat Targeting Service Life Extension Program, which is updating ICBM command and control capability;

Minuteman Minimum Essential Emergency Communications Network program, which upgraded communications in all Minuteman III launch control centers and also connected these systems to the Milstar satellite communications system; and

Improvement to the launch control centers, accomplished through the Environmental Control System program, which is upgrading climate controls to ensure that electronics and ground support systems are maintained at specified pre-set temperatures.

So... that's a lot of Meals on Wheels grants, school lunches, WIC and SNAP benefits...

[gopiscrap]

31. Welcome to DU

[Plucketeer]

47. Thanks for your reply

And allow me to second the "Welcome" to DU. While I wasn't really looking for a tabulation of this systems cost, your detailing does reaffirm the obscene outlay for tools that would certain annihilation of most all life on this planet. If it ever comes to us launching some of these as was intended, I might find myself wishing I owned a gun - a swift death being preferable to an agonizing one.

Imagine what this nation's balance sheet would look like if we just STOPPED buying weapons altogether? We could feed the WORLD for some time, let alone our own citizens!

[uppityperson]

7. Why is there money for this and not for helping people? Just wondering and I am sure the answer is

who makes money off of this.

[kentauros]

22. Pretty much.

Military equipment gets destroyed. That then sets up a nice gravy train for the supplier.

Helping people destroys nothing, and doesn't generate similar levels of profit for those that live or live longer.

[MADem]

8. There was a definite message in that test launch.

Hey Poot--our stuff still works, I think is what the message was....

[sir pball]

14. Meh. We do these all the time, I dunno why this is getting so much press.

I want to say about twice a year we heave one up "in order to validate the effectiveness, readiness, and accuracy of the weapon system, as well as to support the system's primary purpose, nuclear deterrence."

Seeing as we "decided to delay a long-planned missile test scheduled for next week out of California "to avoid any misperception or miscalculation", given tensions with North Korea" back in May, I doubt there's much concern with irking the Red Bear. I'm sure they know we still have a "live rounds", so to speak (and given the relative states of our submarine fleets, both SSBN and SSN, they probably also know we can outdraw them if need be).

Not making any judgement on whether or not we should actually be doing these tests, just observing there's probably no especially ulterior motive behind them.

[MADem]

15. Yes, we "heave one up" but we don't report on it.

The "message" in the reporting is, in sly fashion, "Hey Vlad--our shit actually works." That's the purpose of the press coverage. No one can force media outlets to cover this stuff, but one can certainly suggest it. And the smart media outlet, wanting to cement good relations in the event they need something on background some time in future, can see both the utility in accommodation AND the fact that this story is actually newsworthy owing to a revitalization of some of that old Cold War "attitude" if nothing else.

It's not about irking at all for our part, it's about strutting. It's a fashion show, and We Look GOOOOOOD. It's a basketball game, and we can hit every three pointer we go for. Maintenance, baby, maintenance!

There's no menace or gangster looming happening here--it's letting that two bit thug know that he isn't in that catbird seat he might think he's in, but we sure as hell don't have to be a bully to let him know that. A subtle nose tweak, missed by 99 percent of the world, but the one who needed to notice no doubt took the point.

[sir pball]

16. I think it's a message to Syria, or even us Americans, if anything.

KSBY has done the same coverage for previous launches; Russia may not be the most successful state in the world right now but their intel services are at least capable enough that we don't need to call any more attention to this launch as opposed to others for them to be quite well aware that the LGM-30 is still viable.

The more I think about it, the more I feel like it just might be an "AMERICA F-YEAH" display for We The People, especially given the reality that ground-based missiles are more or less fireworks, amusements that serve as a show-of-force and nothing more; we test-launch Tridents (the "real" arm of the triad) just as often, to little or no fanfare. IMO the only reason anybody's paying particular attention to this launch is to rah-rah our side..."Russia might be talking tough but we still got them nucular rockets!"

[MADem]

18. Syria is in Pootie's pocket. They only continue on with that silly regime by the grace and favour

of the Pootster. He forgave billions of dollars of old USSR debt that he held against them, he feeds them armaments and weaponry hand over fist (he needs clients to keep his OWN MIC cranking) and he tells al-Assad what to do.

Of course the Pootster knows when we're going to 'heave one up,' and he probably knows as much about our launch schedule as we do, but putting it in the newspaper with a little "Ta Daaaaaa" is simply a bit of a nose tweak. Nothing more.

If we were gonna "F-Yeah" we shouldn't try doing that around the Emmy Awards! We're easily distracted....

[sir pball]

21. I don't even know that we're making that big a deal of it, TBH..

It was in the local news, with the same fanfare as the rest of the launches - but the only way I heard about it was on here.

I can't find it on the frontpages of CNN or MSNBC...or Al-Jazeera America or the BBC. If the MSM, US and global, isn't paying much attention to it, to the vast majority of people worldwide it simply didn't happen.

[NickB79]

32. Is there any indication the Russian stuff doesn't work?

After all, they have us beat in sheer number of warheads and launch systems.

Even if half their shit DIDN'T work, they could still go toe-to-toe with us in a nuclear exchange.

[MADem]

39. Take a look at their Navy.

They should name the few vessels they've got floating "Running Rust" and "Peeling Paint."

If they can't get the stuff off the ground, they might not be able to go toe-to-toe with us. I haven't seen them strutting their capabilities in a long, long while.

[Celefin]

45. On the other hand

The Russians currently are the only ones servicing the ISS.
Nothing wrong with their rocket maintenance it would seem; and I very much doubt that would-like-to-be-czar Putin would neglect the comparatively low-cost basic nuclear deterrent of ballistic missiles.

Hell, if only a third of their arsenal still works they could still blow most of the northern hemisphere to kingdom come. With weapons as powerful as they are today, you don't really need to go toe to toe. The Russians would probably all be incinerated on the spot but we would all die from radiation poisoning and general civilization breakdown anyway. Might actually be preferable to be Russian in that scenario.

[MADem]

48. No winners, really.

I think if Pootie has only a certain amount of dough to spend on things that go up in the air, he'd spend it on the space program rather than his nuclear ICBMs. From what I understand, those programs are separately managed.

After all, the Russians have a world reputation when it comes to space exploration--there's a reason why Laika remains a very popular dog name in Europe and elsewhere. Sure, we were first to the moon, but the Russians weren't without their moments and their heroes, animal and human.

[pa28]

10. Here's a mini doc from a similar test a few years ago.

The Air Force takes a random Minuteman from service as is to see how it performs. Interesting.

[thefool_wa]

19. Why the fuck do we continue to build these terrible machines! n/t

[telclaven]

20. Because, sad to say, they do keep the peace

[thefool_wa]

24. The ones we have already do that

We don't need to develop new ones, esp not when Food Stamps are being cut in their stead.

[telclaven]

26. Weapons degrade over time

Have to haul one out of the box and fire it up to make sure it still works.

Didn't think they built a new one, just pulled in one.

[thefool_wa]

30. OH - I must have misunderstood.

I thought the Minuteman III was a new version. I have no problem with testing existing armament.

[daleo]

41. To show the world how bad weapons of mass destruction are

Well, their's anyway.

[FairWinds]

23. It's just evil and grotesque . .

to not only build and test these crimes against humanity in waiting,
but also to test them in the Marshall Islands, which the U.S. has been blasting and poisoning with radiation since the 1950s.
People live there, for God's sake !!
Check out the Vets for Peace Golden Rule Project.

[thefool_wa]

25. You do realize they are just testing the missile right

not the nuclear payload.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

28. Luckily, not only is the hardware working perfectly,

the security of our "nucular" warheads is perfect, with no breach of security possible. And even better, we removed all those Colorado Springs religious zealots from controlling the warheads.

Oh, wait a second. Neither is true, is it?

[FairWinds]

29. What if the Marshall Islanders fired ICBM's at us?

saying, "Hey, it's only a test!" ?

Here is some history of U.S. nuclear crimes in the Marshalls . . .

http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/rmi.htm

http://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com/2012/09/02/nuclear-savage-film-reveals-the-nuclear-scandal-of-the-marshall-islands/

And that is why I support the "Golden Rule" project.

[pinboy3niner]

40. They'd lose the war and get a lot more of our foreign aid

[FairWinds]

42. So you're OK with the crime part . .

feel sorry for ya - not being able to "walk in another's moccasins".
BTW, I'm a Vietnam vet.

[pinboy3niner]

44. Welcome home

And welcome to DU!

But I'm not sure how you got "So you're OK with the crime part" from what I posted.

[LongTomH]

43. Eisenhower's 'Cross of Iron' speech is as relevant today as when it was given in 1953

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. This is, I repeat, the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking. This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron. <...> Is there no other way the world may live?"

From a speech given to the American Society of Newspaper Editors 1953.

The cost of everything mentioned has gone up since 1953; but, I'm certain the cost of our deadly hardware has gone up faster than the cost of "fully, equipped hospitals" or "modern schools in 30 cities."

[Nihil]

46. Yep - and just as ignored by the "leaders" of today as it has been ever since 1953.

That is one of the most "presidential" speeches ever made but you aren't going
to get a US president (or candidate or other wannabe) saying that out loud today.