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Per US Air Force Instruction (AFI) 91-104, "the two-person concept" is designed to prevent accidental or malicious launch of nuclear weapons by a single individual. [1]In the case of Minuteman missile launch crews, once a launch order is received, both operators must agree that it is valid by comparing the authorization code in the order against a Sealed Authenticator (a special sealed ...
Topol-M launch from silo. A missile launch facility, also known as an underground missile silo, launch facility (LF), or nuclear silo, is a vertical cylindrical structure constructed underground, for the storage and launching of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs), medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBMs).
The first missile combat crews were composed of trained aviators (e.g., B-47, B-36), but later generations had no aviation experience and were "grown" to be missileers from the start of their careers. From the early days of United States missile crew operations until the late 1970s, the career field was closed to female personnel. [4]
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 Pentagon has reported to Congress that China’s intercontinental-range missile launchers, in total, outnumber America’s 400 silos loaded with the 54-year-old Minuteman III. China has thus ...
Launch on warning (LOW), or fire on warning, [1] [2] is a strategy of nuclear weapon retaliation where a retaliatory strike is launched upon warning of enemy nuclear attack and while its missiles are still in the air, before detonation occurs. It gained recognition during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States.
The Air Force's vast fields of underground nuclear missile silos are rarely disturbed by more than the occasional wandering cow or floating spy balloon. Whereas the nuclear launch sites are almost ...
The United States prefers to keep its MIRV deterrents on submarine-launched Trident Nuclear Missiles [52] In 2014, the Air Force decided to put fifty Minuteman III silos into "warm" unarmed status, taking up half of the 100 slots in America's allowable nuclear reserve. These can be reloaded in the future if necessary.