Minuteman ICBM

A very interesting and very informative video but then all of Simon Whistler's videos are.
 
Here are several Minuteman documentaries (Two from Atomcentral and one from Periscope Films):


ICBM Test Launch Operations - Outlines activities involved in a Minuteman missile operational test launch. Activities include transporting missile from home base to Vandenberg Air Force Base, where the tests occur, installation of the missile in the launch tube, training of the launch crews and countdown team, launch and data analysis. This video includes crew assembling MIRVs​
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“Minutemen Missile And Mission” is a circa 1962 color film, produced by the Thiokol Chemical Corporation and adapted for US Air Force use, that serves as “the story of the Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missile to date.” (The LGM-30 Minuteman entered service in 1962, tasked with the deterrence role and threatening Soviet cities with a counterattack if the US was attacked.) The film opens with a scripted scene featuring NBC correspondent Chet Huntley (mark 02:00) speaking with an officer about how America faces the possibility of nuclear attack and how he wants to get the word out about the country’s deterrent power by giving Huntley “the inside story.” Huntley explains the missile in great detail as scenes of its use are shown, and at mark 04:40 explains how small, rocket-propelled and liquid-propelled engines were already in use by the Air Force, but large solid-propelled engines were necessary for an ICBM (mark 06:00). There are scenes of scientists working on the propellant and Air Force personnel working on the tactical aspect of the missile. The economic aspects of the system are examined at mark 07:30. Near mark 08:00, Huntley returns to explain how a Minutemen missiles’ primary mission is as a retaliatory weapon, “a counterforce capable of permanent readiness and instantaneous attack in the event of attack,” with an animation of that scenario beginning at mark 08:24 followed by an explanation of how Thiokol designed the rocket’s engine. There are scenes of the rocket under construction as Huntley reviews the various steps and at mark 12:35 looks at the exhaustive tests conducted.​
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The LGM-30 Minuteman is a U.S. land-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), in service with the Air Force Global Strike Command. As of 2016, the LGM-30G Minuteman III version is the only land-based ICBM in service in the United States. Development of the Minuteman began in the mid-1950s as the outgrowth of basic research into solid fuel rocket motors which indicated an ICBM based on solids was possible. Such a missile could stand ready for extended periods of time with little maintenance, and then launch on command. In comparison, existing U.S. missile designs using liquid fuels required a lengthy fueling process immediately before launch, which left them open to the possibility of surprise attack. This potential for immediate launch gave the missile its name; like the Revolutionary War's Minutemen, the Minuteman was designed to be launched on a moment's notice.​
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Minuteman entered service in 1962 as a weapon tasked primarily with the deterrence role, threatening Soviet cities with a counterattack if the U.S. was attacked. However, with the development of the U.S. Navy's Polaris which addressed the same role, the Air Force began to modify Minuteman into a weapon with much greater accuracy with the specific intent of allowing it to attack hardened military targets, including Soviet missile silos. The Minuteman-II entered service in 1965 with a host of upgrades to improve its accuracy and survivability in the face of an anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system the Soviets were known to be developing. Minuteman-III followed in 1970, using three smaller warheads instead of one large one, which made it very difficult to attack by an anti-ballistic missile system which would have to hit all three widely separated warheads to be effective. Minuteman-III was the first multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) ICBM to be deployed. Each missile can carry up to three nuclear warheads, which have a yield in the range of 300 to 500 kilotons.​
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Peaking at 1,000 missiles in the 1970s, the current U.S. force consists of 450 Minuteman-III missiles in missile silos around Malmstrom AFB, Montana; Minot AFB, North Dakota; and F.E. Warren AFB, Wyoming. By February 2018 this will be reduced to 400 armed missiles, with 50 unarmed missiles in reserve, and four non-deployed test launchers to comply with the New START treaty.The Air Force plans to keep the missile in service until at least 2030. It is one component of the U.S. nuclear triad—the other two parts of the triad being the Trident submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), and nuclear weapons carried by long-range strategic bombers.​
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DESCRIBES THE TECHNIQUES AND UNIQUE METHODS OF PROTECTING THE MINUTEMAN MISSILE WEAPON SYSTEM FROM THE SIX DESTRUCTIVE COMPONENTS FOUND IN A SURFACE NUCLEAR EXPLOSION. SHOWS EXAMPLES OF CONTINUING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.This production was shot on film but finished as a 2" video master. This is a shortened version of the film.​
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Here's a video on the miniaturisation of thermonuclear-warheads and how this effected the Minuteman*:


In the space of twenty years, the large atomic bombs used in World War II evolved into the small but lethal nuclear warheads deployed on North Dakota's Minuteman II and Minuteman III missiles. Join Oscar-Zero Site Supervisor Rob Branting as he explores American nuclear weapons development from 1945 to today.
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*Without the miniaturisation of TN-warheads in the late 50s/early 60s the Minuteman wouldn't have possible with a larger warhead. Well a solid-propellant ICBM would've bee possible with something like a W38 or W49 but it would've been significantly larger (Imagine the size of a solid-propellant ICBM carrying a W39 for example).
 
NMaude said:
I bought a copy of that a few years ago and I'm slowly making my way through it, it is an interesting and informative read.
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The book stopped short of providing more info on the MMIII as it is still in service ......

I also have the Titan book by the same author .....
 

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