Fellow Missileers:
The September 2025 newsletter is on the street. Click on this link for your copy. This edition is full of news and stories but I want to point out two of special interest. The first is a call for nominations for the 2nd class for the Air Force Missileers Hall of Fame. The article by Hall of Fame Chair Linda Aldrich provides the criteria and timing for the nomination process. This is your chance to recognize the outstanding men and women who paved the road before you! We'll recognize the inductees at the AAFM National Meeting in Minot ND in 2026. Which leads to the second article about our National Meeting--we have lots on the agenda! Registration will go live on October 1st and will include a link for hotel reservations. Check out the link on our website on October 1st.
Senator Hoeven (R-ND), Major General Connor and Minot Civic Leaders Discuss Sentinel Rollout.
The link below will take you to a Minot KYFR TV you tube video of Senator John Hoeven, Major General Connor, Director of Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Modernization, and Minot city leaders discussing Sentinel rollout and progress. With this type of excellent community support, it’s no wonder the 91st Missile Wing won the Omaha.
[Note: the video may start with a 12 second report on a vehicle accident]
See: Sentinel Rollout
Missile Knowledge: Match the following answers with the weapon system. For example, answer "A" belongs to.... Select from the list of... GLCM, Titan II, Atlas F, and Minuteman III. Answers can be found dispersed throughout the dispatch.
A. The blast doors are made of 12-inch I-beams. Each door is 5.5 feet wide and 7.5 tall. Each weighed about 6,000 lbs. The doors were designed to withstand an overpressure of 1000 psi. For comparison, residential construction would be destroyed by an overpressure of 5 psi.
B. Three internal blast doors in the underground tunnel leading from the LCC to the silo protected against an internal rocket explosion. The specific weight of these doors is not listed, but they would be substantially smaller than the silo's 675-ton surface doors.
C. The blast doors for these LCC's weigh approximately 8 tons. These LCC blast doors were strong enough to withstand a 1000 psi overpressure and could be opened and closed by muscle power alone. Some wings had one door while others had two.
D. The missile was secured in a hardened storage area. Forty-four security forces policemen were assigned to each flight. Twenty-nine flights were assigned to six wings with a total of 464 missiles. The Transporter Erectors weighed 78,000-pounds.
So...What’s Going on with Sentinel These Days?
Testing continues: In March 2025, Northrop Grumman successfully completed a static fire test of the missile's first-stage solid rocket motor.
Warhead development: Development of the new W87-1 warhead for the Sentinel is proceeding, with the National Nuclear Security Administration qualifying the first plutonium pit in October 2024.[Letter B above is Atlas F]
Congressional pushback: In July 2025, Senator Edward J. Markey and Representative Ro Khanna introduced the "Investing in Children Before Missiles (ICBM) Act of 2025," which would redirect Sentinel funding to education.
Continue Minuteman III operation: Because of Sentinel's delays, the Air Force will need to keep the existing Minuteman III missiles operational longer than planned, potentially for decades.[Letter A above: Titan ]
The first developmental flight test, once set for late 2023, has been repeatedly delayed. As of June 2025, officials stated the timing for the first flight was in flux, with one report setting a potential date as late as March 2028. [Letter D above is GLCM]
Best Summary of the Sentinel Program:
Air and Space Forces magazine's search engine provides a comprehensive listing of the articles on the Sentinel program and the Herculean efforts of the Air Force and Northrop team to keep Sentinel moving forward. The bottom line is that Northrop is fully back to work. .[Letter C is MM] To see the listing go to: Sentinel Moving Forward
Missile Advocacy..."Los Alamos Study Group" is Not Part of Los Alamos National Laboratories.
It’s interesting to note that during military modernization programs, like the US is now accomplishing, groups of well-meaning, but extremely misguided individuals try and stop the modernization
One of these organizations is the Los Alamos Study Group. When you see their name come up in a google search you might think "oh this is part of the Los Alamos National Laboratories...but it is not. You also might wonder what they are studying? What they are studying is nuclear disarmament. According to their website their mission is:
"In a nutshell, the Los Alamos Study Group seeks nuclear disarmament, environmental, economic and social resilience, and peace, not war".
Their website is a cornucopia of information on US nuclear modernization over the years. You may also ask yourself three questions...First, "Wouldn’t it be nice to have similar information on China's and Russia's nuclear modernization"? Second, who is funding this "study group" and third, "I wonder what an EMT team chief going out to the missile field today to change an A4 drawer would think of this "study group horse pucky"?
And Now for Something to Take Some Missileers Back in Time:
This story came from a missileer assigned to the Pentagon in the "83-time frame. If you had an assignment or TDY to the Pentagon this may also make you smile. At one time some of the ICBM offices in the Pentagon were located underground. The supposed reason was that the missileer offices were placed there because ICBM launch control centers and ICBMs were located underground; and this might make missileers feel closer to their weapon systems. The offices were very hard to find, BUT the key to finding them was to look for the Purple Water Fountain. Without the Purple Water Fountain, missileers and others could wonder around lost in the basement. Now the Purple Water Fountain was moved and is permanently enshrined in the Pentagon next to the Air Force Council room.
Sincerely,
Jim
James F. Warner
Executive Director
