Minuteman deployment concepts

do you understand the meaning of word 'planned'?
 
There was a reasonably serious proposal from the USAF in 1964 to establish a Minuteman squadron in a location that would allow for peacetime training launches from operational silos and LCCs - that is, in reasonably close proximity to Vandenberg AFB to use the Western Missile Range. Camp Hunter Liggett was considered a potentially suitable base area for this.

Historical Documents - Office of the Historian

history.state.gov 3.0 shell
history.state.gov history.state.gov
 
From David Stumpf's Minuteman:

...the Hard Rock Silo Program (HRS), one of several programs the Air Force had looked to protect the Minuteman force from improvements in the Soviet offensive strategic missile force that were taking place in the mod-1960s. Thirty concepts were evaluated, with HRS selection approved by Secretary McNamara in November 1967. HRS would develop new LFs, drilled out of solid rock, that would be able to withstand 3,000-psi overpressure, while the LCC would be able to withstand 6,000-psi overpressure. Initially they would house Minuteman III, but the LF design would be large enough to incorporate future ICBM systems.

A nationwide search located several feasible areas, ending up with the selection of Laramie Range near F. E. Warren AFB. There was enough suitable land to allow 1000 LFs to be built, though initially only 150 to 450 would be constructed. On 21 November 1968 and 26 March 1969, Rocktest I and II, respectively, were conducted, simulating the air blast and direct induced ground motion characteristics of nuclear explosions using HEST on both quarter-scale model and full-size LF structures. On 30 June 1970, the Air Force Council recommended that the hard-point defense approach be changed to a relatively low-cost program, with the attributes of the Minuteman III being the deciding factor. Elements of the LF could then be approved in increments. HRS was cancelled, and instead Upgrade Silo was implemented.
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A Tentative Fleet Plan said:
From David Stumpf's Minuteman:
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What struck me as the interesting basing idea was (IIRC) an extension of the hard rock silos: putting the silos in the "shadow" of a large rock mesa to make direct hits on the silos very difficult.

Remember, while ICBMs take off vertically, their warheads come in at an angle. So if you had a 300-500ft tall rock mesa north of your silo, it was very hard to hit the silo directly. You still had to consider landslides caused by near misses covering the muzzle, though.

This came up in my International Relations class in college, we spent a lot of time talking about nukes.
 
Scott Kenny said:
Remember, while ICBMs take off vertically, their warheads come in at an angle. So if you had a 300-500ft tall rock mesa north of your silo, it was very hard to hit the silo directly. You still had to consider landslides caused by near misses covering the muzzle, though.
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I did hear once that this factor makes certain targets in Iran very difficult to hit from the Continental United States. The ridgeline of the Zagros mountains is at such an angle that a lot of stuff is quite effectively shielded. A ballistic missile submarine in the North Pacific or South Atlantic has its attack vector offset by ~90 degrees so the RVs can come along the valleys rather than over the ridgelines.

Bombers, of course, avoid that issue entirely (as Tom Clancy rather imaginatively demonstrated once!) but come with their own problems.
 
NMaude said:
Which novel was that done in?
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Debt of Honor -
Secret Japanese SS-19 silos at the bottom of a gorge, sent in a B-2 with conventional PGMs to hole-punch the silos then breach the conveniently-located dam at the head of the gorge, flooding the whole lot. Of course, the number of bombs needed to do so was exactly equal to the capacity of a single B-2. I think the RAH-66 force operating covertly inside Japan designated for them.

All very imaginative, of course!
 
Simple fix--just hide IRBMs in fat cell phone towers further south ;)

"We're trying to have telecom projects look like the natural landscape."
 
"Simple fix--just hide IRBMs in fat cell phone towers further south..."
Snark:
Unintended consequences: Before the 'Usual Suspects' have fully accepted 5g masts, rather than burn them, 6G will be coming along, spawning a fresh wave of saboteurs...
/
Mind you, stickin' around to watch the fire-works may have Darwinian consequences if missile booster 'cooks off'...
 
Triton said:
The United States Air Force planned to deploy a large percentage of Minuteman missiles in camouflaged trains riding the rails in the Midwestern and Western United States to avoid targeting by Soviet ICBMs. A similar concept would be proposed years later as the Peacekeeper Rail Garrison. The Air Force planned to have more than 100 of these trains, each carrying from one to five Minuteman missiles. The missiles would ride on their sides in 88-foot launch cars, resting in metal cocoons called "strongbacks."

The trains would wander the rails for several weeks at a time. The civilian train crew would live aboard with the 15-member Air Force missile crew.

The train's primary launch sites would be preselected sidings whose precise geographical locations would be plotted and recorded on tape for the Minuteman's guidance computer. No train would ever be more than ten miles from a suitable place to stop and launch.
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Honestly, I thought the shape of the Minuteman's LCC (the capsule) looked like the shape of a train-car. When I was told that it was designed to be mobile, I thought the LCC was designed that way so that it'd fit on a train-car. It turns out that the design of the LCC was designed the way it was for some other non-specified reason.

With the Minuteman's crew typically being two people, and two LCC's needing to key-in a launch: I'm guessing some of the personnel would be back-up crews (from what I remember, alert tours were typically around 36 hours until the late 1970's when they were reduced to 24), as well as the security, and maintenance guys.
 
CaseyKnight said:
With the Minuteman's crew typically being two people, and two LCC's needing to key-in a launch: I'm guessing some of the personnel would be back-up crews (from what I remember, alert tours were typically around 36 hours until the late 1970's when they were reduced to 24), as well as the security, and maintenance guys.
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Thanks to Pomeroy, we actually know this:

The caboose, required by Interstate Commerce Commission regulations, was home to the civilian train crew of five to fifteen personnel. Federal regulations required five crewmen, but the air force estimated as many as fifteen might be required, and the total personnel assigned to a task force was set at twenty-two.This included the five-member civilian train crew, one air force task force commander, three controllers, three communications technicians, two dining stewards, two custodians,three maintenance and checkout specialists (one per missile), two refrigeration and heating specialists, and an administrative clerk. The air force desired three eight-hour shifts each day.
Personally, I'd be surprised if a security detail of six or seven personnel wasn't added. It also strikes me as odd that the locomotive and train crew would be provided by a civilian private railroad, but I know the US prohibits military personnel from operating trains to prevent their use as strikebreakers.
 

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