The US has one ICBM left—the Minuteman III—and it’s the job of the missile maintainers at Hill AFB, Utah, to see that the Cold War icons remain ready. The base receives the missiles—minus warheads but otherwise in tact—from operational ICBM sites, then the technicians of the 309th Missile Maintenance Group disassemble them, repair the components as needed, test the components, and then reassemble everything. Just the reassembly takes about seven days. The 526th ICBM Systems Wing at Hill provides technical assistance along the way and, once the ICBM is back together, reviews the testing documentation. Base officials say the wing and group managed to cut the maintenance time in half and have returned ICBMs on time for more than a year.
Three of four congressional committees with influence over defense policy have voted to change the official name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War—but final approval of the Pentagon rebrand is months away and not yet assured.