A gigantic new ICBM will take US nuclear missiles out of the Cold War-era but add 21st-century risks

[dalton99a]

https://apnews.com/article/nuclear-intercontinental-ballistic-missile-minuteman-sentinel-321d5a34c141352f4fae4a779535ebbe

A gigantic new ICBM will take US nuclear missiles out of the Cold War-era but add 21st-century risks
By TARA COPP
Updated 6:36 AM CST, December 10, 2023

...

Since the first silo-based Minuteman went on alert at Montana’s Malmstrom Air Force Base on Oct. 27, 1962 — the day Cuba shot down a U-2 spy plane at the height of the Cuban missile crisis — the missile has “talked” to its operators through thousands of miles of hard-wiring in cables buried underground.

It’s a closed communication loop, and a very secure one that brings its own headaches. Any time the Air Force wants to test one of the missiles, it literally has to dig up the cables and splice them, to isolate that test missile’s wiring from the rest. Over decades of testing, there are now hundreds of splices in those critical loops.

But it’s also one of the Minuteman’s best features. You would need a shovel — and a lot more — to try to hack the system. Even when missile crews update targeting codes, it is a mechanical, manual process.

Minuteman is “a very cyber-resilient platform,” said Col. Charles Clegg, the Sentinel system program manager.

Those who maintain the Minuteman III have tried over the years to bring in new technology to make maintenance more efficient, but they have found that sometimes the old manual way of tracking things — sometimes literally with a binder and pen — is better, especially in frigid temperatures.

...


In this undated image provided by the Department of Defense, crews construct missile site connections in the 12th Missile Squadron flight area north of Great Falls, Mont. The 12th MS is one of four missile squadrons in the 341st Operations Group of the 341st Space Wing. (Department of Defense via AP)


This image provided by the U.S. Air Force shows the original underground launch capsules where missileers still spend 24 to 48 hours sitting alert duty. From these underground capsules the launch officers can monitor the silo-based Minuteman III missiles or could fire them if the president ordered a launch. The capsules were dug in the 1960s and have not changed much since then. All of the launch control centers will be demolished and new centers will be built as part of the new Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile system. Construction work on the new system could start as early as next year. (U.S. Air Force via AP)


In this August 2023 photo provided by the U.S. Air Force, two missile launch officers, or missileers, finish a 24-hour underground shift at a launch control center at Malmstrom Air Force Base. The capsules are still very much like they were when they were first designed in the 1960s, with old gear, bad lighting and not a lot of room to move around. The capsules will be completely redesigned as part of the new Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile system. While everything will be modernized and connected via 21st-century technology, there will still be a “human in the loop” if there was ever a launch. (U.S. Air Force via AP)


This August 2023 photo provided by the U.S. Air Force shows one of the seafoam green control panels inside an underground launch control capsule at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming. (Joseph Coslett Jr./U.S. Air Force via AP)


In this Oct. 19, 2018, photo provided by the U.S. Air Force, one of the multiple launch switches sits in the upper-left portion of a panel at a missile alert facility launch control center operated by the 320th Missile Squadron at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo. The control panel that would be used in case of a silo-based nuclear missile launch is still very much reflective of the 1960s and 1980s technology it still relies on. It will all be overhauled with the arrival of the new Sentinel system, but some caution that it’s dependence on old technology is what keeps it protected from cyber warfare. (Staff Sgt. Neal Uranga/U.S. Air Force via AP)

[C_U_L8R]

1. So much for WOPR

[ProfessorGAC]

2. First Thing I Thought Of!

Either that or Colossus: The Forbin Project.

[Sal_NV]

4. But nothing to way about Russia's new Satan ICBM? nt

[Celerity]

14. The RS-28 Sarmat (Russian: РС-28 Сармат). Satan is the NATO-designated codename.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/RS-28_Sarmat

[Sal_NV]

15. And that means.... what?

[Celerity]

16. background information

[Sal_NV]

17. Thank you.

My post may have been a little.....let's say confrontational, and for that I apologize, this subject seems to bring out the worst in me.

[Swede]

5. The Wayback Machine at the archive has it, uh archived.

https://archive.org/details/colossus-the-forbin-project-1970

[ProfessorGAC]

20. Showing My Age?

That movie was all the rage among the science kids in high school.
I know I saw it twice, about a year apart. I knew people that saw it 3 or 4 times.
For the time, therefore lack of grand special effects, (like when the town un Ukraine gets nuked, today we'd see the oilrigs & town get wiped out) it's a quite good movie.

[WarGamer]

3. For when the End of the World isn't violent anough.

Go warmongers, GOOO!!!!

Murika.

[EX500rider]

6. The world is much safer if the US has ICBM's also instead of just Russia, China, N Korea & Iran

And at some point they have to be modernized to be a credible threat

[WarGamer]

7. Like I said... when our current ability to create Doomsday isn't good enough.

[Sal_NV]

9. But yet you fail to condemn Russia's Satan ICBM's. nt

[WarGamer]

10. So your argument is... "We need a bigger one than the Russians have"?

[Sal_NV]

11. Absofuckinglutely!!!!

MAD worked very well during the Cold War.

And you still refuse to condemn Russia's SATAN ICMB.
Very telling.

[WarGamer]

12. Murika!!! Turns the Toby Keith music on louder...

So there's no MAD without the new ultra nuke?

And what difference does it make if I condemn the Satan missile system?

But I do recall TRUMP Pushing for updating the US nuke system... hmmm curious.

[Sal_NV]

13. I don't listen to Toby, but you seem to because you know the song.

Your failing to condemn Russia's SATAN missile, which is why the US is developing a newer ICBM, is very telling.
You seem to think that Russia developing a new ICBM is no big deal but when the US responds with a comparable ICBM, that's a bad thing.

[WarGamer]

18. par for the course... money for new bombs but none for people who need it.

It's an unnecessary MIC pork project.

Just like littoral ships...

[Sal_NV]

19. Yeah, par for the course.

So the US is supposed to cede the technology to Russia because....MIC?

[Dave says]

8. I can vouch for one retired missileer

She was a colleague, Republican surprisingly (you’d have to know her). Try as I might (and I tried), she would never say a word about what she did, what her responsibilities were, what equipment she used — just that she was a “missileer”.

(I lost touch with her after I left the company. Although she made a good income, she refused to move from her drug-riddled and falling apart inner city neighborhood. She wanted to become its Alderwoman and work to improve the lot of her neighbors. That’s why that she was a “Republican” was surprising to me. As far as I know, she never made it.)