Safety Enhanced Reentry Vehicle (SERV)
Beginning in 2005, Mk-21/W87 RVs from the deactivated Peacekeeper missile will be placed on the Minuteman-III force under the Safety Enhanced Reentry Vehicle (SERV) program. The older W78 currently used is not equipped with important safety features. In addition to adding additional safety features into at least a portion of the future Minuteman-III force, the decision to transfer W87s onto the missile is based on two features that will improve the targeting capabilities of the weapon: more fuzing options which will allow for greater targeting flexibility and the most accurate reentry vehicle available which provides a greater probability of damage to the designated targets. The first SERV-modded Minuteman III was put on alert status at FE Warren AFB, Wyoming, in 2006.

Current and future deployment
The Minuteman III missile entered service in 1970, with weapon systems upgrades included during the production run from 1970 to 1978 to increase accuracy and payload capacity. As of 2008, the USAF plans to operate it until at least 2030.^[4][5]
The LGM-118A Peacekeeper (MX) ICBM, which was to have replaced the Minuteman, was retired in 2005 as part of START II.^[12]
A total of 450 LGM-30G missiles are emplaced at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming (90th Missile Wing), Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota (91st Missile Wing), and Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana (341st Missile Wing). All Minuteman I and II have been retired. The United States prefers to keep its MIRV deterrent on submarine-launched Trident Nuclear Missiles.^[13]

Testing Minuteman III missiles are regularly tested with launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base in order to validate the effectiveness, readiness, and accuracy of the weapon system, as well as to support the system's primary purpose, nuclear deterrence. The test launch scheduled for April 2013 was postponed until May 2013 "to avoid any misperception or miscalculation" on the part of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea^[14] during a tense period.^[15]
The most recent launch of a Minuteman III missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base was at 6:27 AM on May 22, 2013. The flight lasted approximately 30 minutes as it flew safely over the Pacific Ocean to hit a target in the Marshall Islands, roughly 4,200 nautical miles away.^[16]
The safety features installed on the Minuteman III for each test launch allow the flight controllers to terminate the flight at any time if the systems indicate that its course may take it unsafely over inhabited areas. Since these flights are for test purposes only, even terminated flights can send back valuable information to correct a potential problem with the system.
The 576th Flight Test Squadron is responsible for planning, preparing, conducting and assessing all ICBM ground and flight tests.

• Remote Visual Assessment (RVA): provides real-time video to ICBM security forces. This video allows forces to respond to threats more quickly, and with appropriate force and situational awareness. RVA will also cut down on “wear and tear” of equipment and personnel, often caused from responding to false alarm threats.
• Rivet MILE: Minuteman Integrated Life Extension. Included IMPSS security system upgrade.
• Rivet ADD: Modification of Minuteman-II launch facilities to hold MM III missiles
• Missile Defense: Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI, “space bullet”)
• LONG LIFE: launch of Minuteman from 'live' launch facility w/7 sec of fuel
• BUSY SENTRY: Strategic Air Command exercise for intercontinental ballistic missile units.
• BUSY SURVEY II: Strategic Air Command Single Integrated Operational Plan (SIOP) 4D missile training assistance program
• BUSY USHER: Strategic Air Command launch of No. 13 LF-02 missile MK-1 Minuteman II
• BUTTON UP: Strategic Air Command security system reset procedures used during Minuteman facility wind down
• DUST HARDNESS: A modification improvement to Minuteman III approved for service use in 1972
• GIANT PATRIOT: The code name describes an operational base launch program of test flights of Minuteman II missiles. The program was terminated by Congress in July 1974
• GIANT PLOW: An Air Force Minuteman launcher closure test program
• GIANT PROFIT: A Minuteman modified operational missile test plan
• GIGANTIC CHARGE: Program to notify NORAD of all or part of strategic integrated operational plan (SIOP) targeting for Minuteman
• GIN PLAYER: Strategic Air Command tests of Minuteman missile for identification and execution
• HAVE LEAP: A Space and Missile Test Center support of Minuteman III program
• MIDDLE GUST: An Air Force test conducted at Crowley, CO involving a simulated nuclear overblast of a Minuteman silo
• OLD FOX: Minuteman III flight tests
• OLYMPIC ARENA III: Strategic Air Command missile competition of all nine operational missile units
• OLYMPIC EVENT: A Minuteman III nuclear operational systems test
• OLYMPIC PLAY: A Strategic Air Command missiles and operational ground equipment program for EWO missions
• OLYMPIC TRIALS: A program to represent a series of launches having common objectives
• PACER GALAXY: Support of Minuteman force modification program
• PAVE PEPPER: An Air Force SAMSO (Space & Missile Systems Organization) project to decrease the size of the Minuteman III warheads and allow for more to be launched by one Minuteman.
• RIVET SAVE: A Minuteman crew sleep program modification to reduce personnel number
• SABER SAFE: Minuteman pre-launch survivability program
• SABER SECURE: A Minuteman rebasing program
• SENTINEL ALLOY: Land gravity surveys in support of the Minuteman system, canceled
• UPGRADE SILO: A modification improvement program for Minuteman III

The Minuteman Missile National Historic Site in South Dakota preserves a Launch Control Facility (D-01) and a launch facility (D-09) under the control of the National Park Service.
Appearances in media
Footage of Minuteman III ICBM test launches have been featured in several theatrical films and television movies where missile launch footage is needed. The Department of Defense film released for use was mainly drawn from Vandenberg Air Force Base test shots in 1966, including from a "salvo launch" (more than one ICBM launched simultaneously).
Theatrically released films using the footage include (most notably), the 1978 film Superman (which features the "twin shot"), and more extensively, the 1977 nuclear war film Damnation Alley.The made for TV film The Day After also features the same footage, although the first stage of flight is completed via special effects. Terminator 3 uses computer generated images of Minuteman missiles launching from the Plains on "Judgment Day". Minutemen also feature in Eagle Strike, by Anthony Horowitz, in which fictional power-crazed multimillionaire Damian Cray orders their release from Air Force One. In the film WarGames a failed Minuteman launch simulation exercise caused by a conflicted launch control officer is the impetus for the conversion of the missiles to full automatic control by the computer system that Matthew Broderick's character later hacks into.

Mobile Minuteman
For the subsequent plans for Peacekeeper Rail Garrison and Soviet Scalpel rail basing, see LGM-118A and SS-24.
Mobile Minuteman was a program for rail-based ICBMs to help increase survivability and for which the USAF released details on October 12, 1959. The Operation Big Star performance test was from June 20 to August 27, 1960 at Hill Air Force Base, and the 4062nd Mobile Missile Wing was activated December 1, 1960 for 3 planned missile train squadrons, each with 10 trains carrying 3 missiles per train. During the Kennedy/McNamara cutbacks, the DoD announced "that it has abandoned the plan for a mobile Minuteman ICBM. The concept called for 600 to be placed in service--450 in silos and 150 on special trains, each train carrying 5 missiles."^[17] After Kennedy announced on March 18, 1961, that the 3 squadrons were to be replaced with "fixed-base squadrons",^[18] the Department of Defense deactivated the 4062nd Mobile Missile Wing on February 20, 1962.
Air Launched ICBM
Air Launched ICBM was a STRAT-X proposal^[19] in which SAMSO successfully conducted an Air Mobile Feasibility Test that airdropped a Minuteman from a C-5A Galaxy aircraft from 20,000 ft (6,100 m) over the Pacific Ocean. The missile fired at 8,000 ft (2,400 m), and the 10-second engine burn carried the missile to 20,000 feet again before it dropped into the ocean. Operational deployment was discarded due to engineering and security difficulties, and the capability was a negotiating point in the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks.^[20][21]

Emergency Rocket Communications System (ERCS)
An additional part of the National Command Authority communication relay system was called the Emergency Rocket Communication System (ERCS). Specially designed rockets called BLUE SCOUT carried radio-transmitting payloads high above the continental United States, to relay messages to units within line-of-sight. In the event of a nuclear attack, ERCS payloads would relay preprogrammed messages giving the “go-order” to SAC units. BLUE SCOUT launch sites were located at Wisner, West Point and Tekamah, Nebraska. These locations were vital for ERCS effectiveness due to their centralized position in the US, within range of all missile complexes. Later ERCS configurations were placed on the top of modified Minuteman-II ICBMs (LGM-30Fs) under the control of the 510th Strategic Missile Squadron located atWhiteman Air Force Base, Missouri.
The Minuteman ERCS may have been assigned the designation LEM-70A.^[22]

Satellite launching role
See also: Minotaur (rocket) and Conestoga (rocket)
The U.S. Air Force has considered using some decommissioned Minuteman missiles in a satellite launching role. These missiles would be stored in silos, for launch upon short notice. The payload would be variable, and would have the ability to be replaced quickly. This would allow a surge capability in times of emergency.
During the 1980s, surplus Minuteman missiles were used to power the Conestoga rocket produced by Space Services Inc. of America. It was the first privately developed rocket, but only saw three flights and was discontinued due to a lack of business. More recently, converted Minuteman missiles have been used to power the Minotaur line of rockets produced by Orbital Sciences.

Ground and air launch targets
L-3 Communications is currently using SR-19 SRBs, Minuteman II Second Stage Solid Rocket Boosters, as delivery vehicles for a range of different re-entry vehicles as targets for the THAAD and ASIP interceptor missile programs as well as radar testing.

Operator United States: The United States Air Force has been the only operator of the Minuteman ICBM weapons system, currently with three operational wings and one test squadron operating the LGM-30G. The active inventory in FY 2009 is 450 missiles and 45 Missile Alert Facilities (MAF).

Operational units
The basic tactical unit of a Minuteman wing is the squadron, consisting of five flights. Each flight consists of ten unmanned launch facilities (LFs) which are remotely controlled by a manned launch control center (LCC). The five flights are interconnected and status from any LF may be monitored by any of the five LCCs. Each LF is located at least three nautical miles (5.6 km) from any LCC. Control does not extend outside the squadron (thus the 319th Missile Squadron’s five LCCs cannot control the 320th Missile Squadron’s 50 LFs even though they are part of the same Space Launch Wing). Each Minuteman wing is assisted logistically by a nearby Missile Support Base (MSB).

Active
90th Missile Wing
150 Missiles, 15 MAF
Francis E. Warren AFB, Wyoming, (1 July 1963 – present)
LGM-30B Minuteman I, 1964–1974
LGM-30G Minuteman III, 1973–present
319th Missile Squadron "Screaming Eagles"
320th Missile Squadron "G.N.I."
321st Missile Squadron "Frontier Warriors"
90th Missile Wing LGM-30 Minuteman Missile Launch Sites
91st Missile Wing "Roughriders"
150 Missiles, 15 MAF
Minot AFB, North Dakota (25 June 1968-Present)
LGM-30B Minuteman I, 1968–1972
LGM-30G Minuteman III, 1972-Present
740th Missile Squadron "Vulgar Vultures"
741st Missile Squadron "Gravelhaulers"
742d Missile Squadron "Wolf Pack"
91st Missile Wing LGM-30 Minuteman Missile Launch Sites
341st Missile Wing
150 Missiles, 15 MAF
Malmstrom AFB, Montana (15 July 1961 – present)
LGM-30A Minuteman I, 1962–1969
LGM-30F Minuteman II, 1967–1994
LGM-30G Minuteman III, 1975-Present
10th Missile Squadron"First Aces"
12th Missile Squadron "Red Dawgs"
490th Missile Squadron "Farsiders"
341st Missile Wing LGM-30 Minuteman Missile Launch Sites

Historical

44th Strategic Missile (later Missile) Wing "Black Hills Bandits" Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota (24 November 1961 – 5 July 1994) LGM-30B Minuteman I, 1963–1973 LGM-30F Minuteman II, 1971–1994 66th Missile Squadron 67th Missile Squadron 68th Missile Squadron 44th Missile Wing LGM-30 Minuteman Missile Launch Sites Inactivated 1994 when Minuteman II phased out of inventory. All retired between December 3, 1991 and April 1994, with destruction of silos and alert facilities finishing in 1996. 90th Missile Wing 400th Missile Squadron (Converted to LGM-118A Peacekeeper in 1987. Inactivated 2005. Peacekeepers retired.) 321st Strategic Missile (later Missile) Wing (later Group) Grand Forks AFB, North Dakota (14 August 1964 – 30 September 1998) LGM-30F Minuteman II, 1965–1973 LGM-30G Minuteman III, 1972–1998 446th Missile Squadron 447th Missile Squadron 448th Missile Squadron 321st Missile Wing LGM-30 Minuteman Missile Launch Sites Inactivated by BRAC 1995; missiles reassigned to 341st SMW, however in 1995 it was decided to retire the Grand Forks missiles; the last missile was pulled from its silo in June 1998. Destruction of silos and control facilities began in October 1999; the last silo (H-22) was imploded August 24, 2001 (the last US silo destroyed per the 1991 START-I treaty).

341st Missile Wing 564th Missile Squadron (Inactivated 2008, Minutemen retired.) 351st Strategic Missile (later Missile) Wing Whiteman AFB, Missouri (1 February 1963 – 31 July 1995) LGM-30B Minuteman I, 1963–1965 LGM-30F Minuteman II, 1965–1995 508th Missile Squadron 509th Missile Squadron 510th Missile Squadron 351st Missile Wing LGM-30 Minuteman Missile Launch Sites Inactivated under START-I. The first silo was imploded on December 8, 1993 and the last on December 15, 1997. 455th Strategic Missile Wing Minot AFB, North Dakota (28 June 1962 – 25 June 1968) LGM-30B Minuteman I, 1962–1968 Replaced by the 91st Strategic Missile Wing in June 1968

Support

• 532d Training Squadron – Vandenberg AFB, California (Missile Maintenance: "the most important piece of the pie")
• 392d Training Squadron – Vandenberg AFB, California (Missile Initial Qualification Course)
• 328th Weapons Squadron – Nellis AFB, Nevada (ICBM Weapons Instructor Course)
• 526th ICBM Systems Wing – Hill Air Force Base, Utah^[23]
• 576th Flight Test Squadron – Vandenberg Air Force Base, California^[24] – "Top Hand"
• 625th Strategic Operations Squadron – Offutt AFB, Nebraska – Strategic Nuclear Targeting