The Air Force’s new ICBM is nearly ready to fly, but there’s nowhere to put it | “There were assumptions that were made in the strategy that obviously didn’t come to fruition.”
https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/02/the-air-forces-new-icbm-is-nearly-ready-to-fly-but-theres-nowhere-to-put-them/
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>The US Air Force’s new Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile is on track for its first test flight next year, military officials reaffirmed this week.
>But no one is ready to say when hundreds of new missile silos, dug from the windswept Great Plains, will be finished, how much they cost, or, for that matter, how many nuclear warheads each Sentinel missile could actually carry.
>The LGM-35A Sentinel will replace the Air Force’s Minuteman III fleet, in service since 1970, with the first of the new missiles due to become operational in the early 2030s. But it will take longer than that to build and activate the full complement of Sentinel missiles and the 450 hardened underground silos to house them.
>Amid the massive undertaking of developing a new ICBM, defense officials are keeping their options open for the missile’s payload unit. Until February 5, the Air Force was barred from fitting ballistic missiles with Multiple Independently targetable Reentry Vehicles (MIRVs) under the constraints of the New START nuclear arms control treaty cinched by the US and Russia in 2010. The treaty expired three weeks ago, opening up the possibility of packaging each Sentinel missile with multiple warheads, not just one.
>Senior US military officials briefed reporters on the Sentinel program this week at the Air and Space Forces Association’s annual Warfare Symposium near Denver. There was a lot to unpack.
Ready to fly? Oh no no no that won’t do. It’s supposed to be a perpetual money furnace. I propose another 5 years in development to solve this urgent issue.
# “There were assumptions that were made in the strategy that obviously didn’t come to fruition.”
Wow, there’s a stunner…………..
In the 70s they played with the idea and tested launching a Minuteman I out of a C5 Galaxy. Drogue chute it out the back and ignite it as it’s falling.
We could do that again, what could possibly go wrong?
One of the initial *selling points* for the Sentinel was that it could be deployed in pre-existing Minuteman III silos.
Yeah, so, it turns out that was a load of crap – all new silos need to be dug. 3-4 times as many as missiles that are eventually built, because not all silos are armed at all times so they all technically have to be targeted by adversaries.
What about the tarriff shelf, should be plenty of room
Bring back the railcar-based launchers!
Yet. There’s nowhere to put it yet. We just started another fight so there are new options on the horizon.
They could put it in Tel Aviv? You know, dry, clear skies, close to the equator, all those good things.
Are you familiar with the saying, putting the cart before the horse??
Is a new ICBM actually needed in any way shape or form?
I’d hate to be a missileer. Either you’re doing endless numbers of simulations and tests, or you’re destroying the world.
Well good news… We might not need to store them at all.
I remember this conversation well over a decade ago. There was major concern that the MM3 silos also wouldn’t suffice due to their age and maintenance required. Looks like that camp was correct in the end. If there is any upside, it will be the massive undertaking required to build all new silos and require thousands of new jobs to get it done.
The Military Industrial Complex is Hungry! It says Feed Me!
It’s called rent-seeking behavior. Congress loves to green light this kind of shit.
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I’ve seen in this thread:
|Fewer Letters|More Letters|
|——-|———|—|
|[ICBM](/r/Space/comments/1rhiq0w/stub/o7zjpj5 “Last usage”)|Intercontinental Ballistic Missile|
|[KSP](/r/Space/comments/1rhiq0w/stub/o7zkw4a “Last usage”)|*Kerbal Space Program*, the rocketry simulator|
|[SMART](/r/Space/comments/1rhiq0w/stub/o7z48cy “Last usage”)|”Sensible Modular Autonomous Return Technology”, ULA’s engine reuse philosophy|
|ULA|United Launch Alliance (Lockheed/Boeing joint venture)|
Decronym is now also available on Lemmy! Requests for support and new installations should be directed to the Contact address below.
—————-
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Wouldn’t making them road mobile be cheaper than having to dig a hole in the ground?