LGM-35A Sentinel - Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) program

bobbymike said:
I’ve always read between 2-3k psi. any other members with information?
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David Stumpfs' Minuteman has this table, which I've done my best to reproduce here:

Minuteman IMinuteman IMinuteman IMinuteman II
Wing I (Malmstrom AFB)Wing II (Ellsworth AFB)Wings III-V (Minot AFB, Whiteman AFB & Francis E. warren AFB)Wing IV (Grand Forks AFB) & 564th SMS (Malmstrom AFB)
MissileLGM-30ALGM-30BLGM-30BLGM-30F
Launch Facility300psi300psi300psi300psi
Launch Facility Emergency GeneratorSoftSoft25psi300psi
Launch Control Center1000psi1000psi1000psi1000psi
Launch Control Center Emergency GeneratorSoftSoft300psi1000psi
Survivability6 Hours6 Hours9 Weeks9 Weeks
TargetingSingleDualDual8

The Minuteman Silos have an internal diameter of 12ft and a depth of 80ft (apart from the Silos for Grand Forks AFB and the 564th SMS, which had a 90ft depth to provide extra volume for future missile designs) so you could launch considerably larger cold-launched missiles from them.
 
bobbymike said:
Triton said:
How many launch failures are expected with the current Minuteman III and the new Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD)? How reliable are our ICBMs?
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The general consensus in the 80's was 90% launch rate or 10% failure. Now 25+ years later who knows. Part of the reason why we need a new missile that can be tested extensively with new modern more robust electronics and targeting/RV systems.

It worries me to this day that there has never been a launch from an operational silo in the US.
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My friends dad was an engineer on one of the upgrades and I used go hear about the great lengths they went to in order to achieve that coveted zero fail. But yeah i heard they expected a small % would explode over the USA and rain down nuclear debris.
 
breakingdefense.com

Sentinel ICBM 'on track' for flight test this year: Senior USAF official - Breaking Defense

According to the Congressional Research Service, due to its modular design and increased throw weight, the Sentinel ICBM could be equipped "with two or three warheads to meet the international security environment."
breakingdefense.com breakingdefense.com

According to the Congressional Research Service, due to its modular design and increased throw weight, the Sentinel ICBM could be equipped "with two or three warheads to meet the international security environment."​

———————-
Increased throw weight for two or three warheads? What a wasted opportunity.
 
bobbymike said:
breakingdefense.com

Sentinel ICBM 'on track' for flight test this year: Senior USAF official - Breaking Defense

According to the Congressional Research Service, due to its modular design and increased throw weight, the Sentinel ICBM could be equipped "with two or three warheads to meet the international security environment."
breakingdefense.com breakingdefense.com

According to the Congressional Research Service, due to its modular design and increased throw weight, the Sentinel ICBM could be equipped "with two or three warheads to meet the international security environment."​

———————-
Increased throw weight for two or three warheads? What a wasted opportunity.
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Doesn't actually make sense. The current missile can carry three, so unless it means 3 with the same amount of penaids as the old missile with 1 or something? Otherwise increased payload would imply either 4 or more warheads, or heavier warheads or MaRV, HGV etc.
 
news.northropgrumman.com

Northrop Grumman Validates Sentinel Missile Design through Rigorous Wind Tunnel Testing Campaign

ROY, Utah. – Feb. 16, 2023 – Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) successfully completed a series of wind tunnel tests of the LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Using scaled models of the vehicle, stressed under environments...
news.northropgrumman.com news.northropgrumman.com
www.northropgrumman.com

Sentinel – The Ground Based Strategic Deterrent

Northrop Grumman’s LGM-35A Sentinel (GBSD) program for the U.S. Air Force is the weapon system replacement for the aging LGM-30 Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) system.
www.northropgrumman.com www.northropgrumman.com
 
Forest Green said:
bobbymike said:
breakingdefense.com

Sentinel ICBM 'on track' for flight test this year: Senior USAF official - Breaking Defense

According to the Congressional Research Service, due to its modular design and increased throw weight, the Sentinel ICBM could be equipped "with two or three warheads to meet the international security environment."
breakingdefense.com breakingdefense.com

According to the Congressional Research Service, due to its modular design and increased throw weight, the Sentinel ICBM could be equipped "with two or three warheads to meet the international security environment."​

———————-
Increased throw weight for two or three warheads? What a wasted opportunity.
Click to expand...
Doesn't actually make sense. The current missile can carry three, so unless it means 3 with the same amount of penaids as the old missile with 1 or something? Otherwise increased payload would imply either 4 or more warheads, or heavier warheads or MaRV, HGV etc.
Click to expand...
That would be a pleasant surprise. (In the way getting a "C-" instead of an "F" is.)
 
sferrin said:
Forest Green said:
bobbymike said:
breakingdefense.com

Sentinel ICBM 'on track' for flight test this year: Senior USAF official - Breaking Defense

According to the Congressional Research Service, due to its modular design and increased throw weight, the Sentinel ICBM could be equipped "with two or three warheads to meet the international security environment."
breakingdefense.com breakingdefense.com

According to the Congressional Research Service, due to its modular design and increased throw weight, the Sentinel ICBM could be equipped "with two or three warheads to meet the international security environment."​

———————-
Increased throw weight for two or three warheads? What a wasted opportunity.
Click to expand...
Doesn't actually make sense. The current missile can carry three, so unless it means 3 with the same amount of penaids as the old missile with 1 or something? Otherwise increased payload would imply either 4 or more warheads, or heavier warheads or MaRV, HGV etc.
Click to expand...
That would be a pleasant surprise. (In the way getting a "C-" instead of an "F" is.)
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We need another STRAT-X type study that takes the threats, in the now tri-polar nuclear superpower world, to 2050-60 and determine our force levels out that far.
 
NMaude said:
bobbymike said:
www.afnwc.af.mil

Air Force conducts Sentinel static fire test

The Air Force and Northrop Grumman conducted a static fire test March 2, 2023, for the LGM-35A Sentinel weapon system at Northrop Grumman's facility in Promontory, Utah.
www.afnwc.af.mil
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I wonder if a video of that will appear on YouTube?
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Seems exceedingly unlikely. We don't even know the requirements of the program. We still don't know what an AIM-260 looks like or a B-21's tail. The US in general, and USAF in particular, is playing everything very close to the chest these days; I can't imagine even a still image of the 1st stage is forthcoming.
 
Forest Green said:
Now I'm confused. I thought the whole point of choosing a small MMIII-sized missile was that it fit in existing MMIII silos with minimal fuss.
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To put it simply - American practice of putting "naked" missile into silo is not exactly very efficient. Soviet idea of "encapsulated" missile - i.e. the missile is sealed inside nitrogen-filled capsule, which could be quickly put into silo & quickly extracted - is more cost-efficient.
 
Dilandu said:
Forest Green said:
Now I'm confused. I thought the whole point of choosing a small MMIII-sized missile was that it fit in existing MMIII silos with minimal fuss.
Click to expand...
To put it simply - American practice of putting "naked" missile into silo is not exactly very efficient. Soviet idea of "encapsulated" missile - i.e. the missile is sealed inside nitrogen-filled capsule, which could be quickly put into silo & quickly extracted - is more cost-efficient.
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Maybe so, but it is not like the Americans haven’t tried that method. Peacekeeper was encapsulated and cold launched, as are all of the SLBMs. Someone made the trade and decided that an encapsulated round was not worth the additional expense.
 
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bobbymike said:
Forest Green said:
sferrin said:
Any idea why they're reusing the -135 designation? (Which is used for the ASM-135 ASAT.)
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They're not it's LGM-35. Title is wrong.

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Given the first patch, probably confirms its MMIII dimensions. What a wasted opportunity. I guess I’ll wait for max payload specs before final judgment.
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As stated previously, Sentinel will not be a repeat of MMIII dimensions. It is also not in the same class as PK. Sentinel will be somewhere in between those two missile sizes.
 
I suppose that like the Peacekeeper the second and third stages will be the same diameter as the first-stage.
 
NMaude said:
I suppose that like the Peacekeeper the second and third stages will be the same diameter as the first-stage.
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The renders and the patch are representative of the actual physical nature of the missile. All three stages are different diameters. The diameter decreases from first through third stage, similar to MMI.
 
bobbymike said:
Behind paywall. Sentinel test in 2023 so sometime within the next 5 1/2 months. I’m getting excited :D
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Is the first test going to be. an all-up test or just a live first-stage with inert second and third stages?
 
sferrin said:
At best 7 SSBNs are out at any given time. That's seven targets that could be taken out in minutes.
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More than that, the patrol/refit cycle is 3 months out, 1 month in. roughly. Which means that any given sub is at sea 9 months out of 12, which means that 3/4 of all Ohios are at sea at any given time. That's 9 and some change.
 
NeilChapman said:
Looks like they're learning from B-21 program.

1. Make it open source so it's easy to upgrade.
2. Using existing tech.
3. Eliminate risk where possible. e.g existing silos and awards to both NG and Boeing
4. Don't change the specs.

Now if they can get this new rig to fit in the 87" Virginia Payload Tubes then that would be something. Sixty+ additional "mobile" launchers. ;)
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Would require installing strategic command and control systems to them, as well as a crapton of personnel-side headaches.

Also, the VPTs are only about 36ft deep, less than the Ohio class tubes they're based on. Would make for a short ranged missile at best.
 
Scott Kenny said:
Would require installing strategic command and control systems to them, as well as a crapton of personnel-side headaches.

Also, the VPTs are only about 36ft deep, less than the Ohio class tubes they're based on. Would make for a short ranged missile at best.
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Well the D5 is 83” 44.5 ft long. A system fit to the maximum dimensions of the VPTs would still have significant range.
 

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