Members of the 91st Space Wing at Minot AFB, N.D., reached a 99.82 percent alert rate—the highest ever for a Minuteman ICBM force, say Air Force Space Command officials. The ICBM alert rate is a function of the percentage of missiles on alert and ready to launch. For the Minot airmen, the 2005 alert rate marked the fourth straight year that the North Dakota has been the command’s top unit.
Senior U.S. military officials involved in restructuring the troubled LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile program now project confidence that it will achieve operational capability in the early 2030s.