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Show yv- - ICBM Oct. 27, 1993 Hilltop Times A Anniversary Supplement anniversary you might not know about Oct. 31, 1959: First ICBM put on In i - by Michael D. Jackson Systems integration engineer, TRW Thirty-fiv-e I I Ft f "W, 0 ' years ago, on Oct. 31, 1959, America's first intercontinental ballistic missile was brought to strategic alert at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., From the first Atlas to the newest Peacekeeper, the country's ICBM force has been deployed across the nation, with units scattered from the southwestern desert to the northern tier. In the past 35 years, America was ' involved in the Cold War. This strategic competition was different from anything our country had ever known and required a new strategy deterrence and it involved. a considerable portion of the scientific and engineering talent of the nation. Ironically, our ability to compete in this new environment can be traced to a weapon of the Third Reich, the V-- 2 rocket. Captured missiles were taken apart and studied, improvements were developed, range was extended, pay- - "Pi re-ent- ry re-ent- ry We have come a long way in ICBM evolution, even to the point of reducing our dependence on ICBMs. The United States has signed treaties that deactivate the Minute-ma- n missile sysII, a single-warhea-d tem We may soon see the START II treaty ratified which will deactivate the Peacekeeper missile system The d ICBM, the remaining Minuteman III, will be from three warheads to one, and is programmed to continue to serve through the year 2020. On Monday we will celebrate 35 years of the nation's ICBM fleet on alert. That fleet has served us well and kept the peace. Monday afternoon, all d the ICBM units, including the ICBM System Program Office here at Hill AFB, will be tied together electronically in a teleconference with senior leaders at United States Strategic Command and the 20th Air Force to mark the occasion. silo-base- Silo-Base- that is responsible for all aspects of technological advances that have been by Col. Terrence G. Crossey ICBM System Program Office Silo-Base- d , to operate and maintain a dozen Atlas boosters, the same number of people now take care of 50 Peacekeeper sites. Director of ICBM Program Office says met past and future Be Director, load was improved and the result became America's first ICBM on alert. Our new adversary, the Soviet Union, was a former ally who helped defeat Germany, and just like the United States, used former German hardware, scientists and engineers to build an ICBM force. Perhaps the ultimate irony is that the ICBM made it possible for us to win the Cold War without firing a shot. There was a cost, however, and the cost of competition with the Soviet Union for strategic superiority resulted in today's ultimate ICBM, the Peacekeeper. Atlas carried one vehicle while the Peacekeeper now carries 10 vehiindependently targeted cles. The range is about the same, but accuracy, which used to be measured in thousands of yards with Atlas, is now measured in feet with Peacekeeper. Atlas weighed 267,000 pounds at liftoff while Peacekeeper weighs 192,000 pounds. It took Atlas a minute to reach Mach 1 speed, but Peacekeeper takes only 20 seconds. Where it took several hundred people I am privileged to lead a unique organization comprised of professionals who are dedicated to sustaining the Minuteman and Peacekeeper ICBM force. We are a organization. Under one roof, so to speak, we are the sole support for this country's land-base- d intercontinental ballistic missile systems. Our more than 900 employees, both military and civilian, the Minute-ma- n keep the two systems and Peacekeeper missiles - ready to fly and fight and we have done so for 35 years. Our organization is an integrated weapon system management office one-of-a-ki- w achieved in the last 35 years and be op- support for the Minuteman and Peace- timistic. Three of those advances are particularly notable because they represented quantum leaps in America's defense capability. keeper missiles. Our customers include the Air Force Space Command which owns the missiles and their silos, and ultimately the U.S. Strategic Command, which, together with the president, executes command and launch control authority over these missile systems. Our toughest challenge at present is to keep our aging systems viable. We deal with obsolete technology and the knowledge that there are no new ICBM weapon systems under development. Our nation's shrinking military industrial base, plus international peace initiatives such as the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, significantly impact our work. We can, however, look back at the The development of the ICBM capability, with its extended range, accuracy and unprecedented explosive force. D The advent of which significantly simplified missile operations and maintenance. The multiple independently tarvehicle (MIRV) which geted single-warhea- d the delivery brought system to three and then 10 atop a single missile. Ironically, in the next few years, we will be converting our MIRV-capabl- e Minuteman III system solid-propella- re-entr- y Col. Terrence G. Crossey to a single vehicle system to START with comply requirements. Our next challenge will be to support the Peacekeeper system through its deactivation phase and to sustain the Minuteman III through the year 2020. I believe we will meet these challenges as effectively as we consistently have for 35 years. 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