Missileers of the 90th Missile Wing at F. E. Warren AFB, Wyo., last week electronically simulated the launch of a Minuteman III ICBM, assuring launch facility readiness. Unlike Minuteman launches from the test facility at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., Simulated Electronic Launch-Minuteman (SELM) tests an operational launch facility’s response to launch control commands. “SELMs provide the most complete test of ICBMs from day-to-day operation to issuance of first stage ignition signal,” said Lt. Col. Anita Feugate Opperman, 320th Missile Squadron commander. Giant Pace 11-1M, held Aug. 16-18, evaluated launch sequences initiated by both by a ground-based control center and an airborne launch control center. Air Force Global Strike Command conducts SELMs twice a year. Warren also test-opened LF Hotel-08’s silo-door, blasting back the several-ton cover, an event conducted only once every two years. (Warren report by SSgt. Mike Tryon)
Senior U.S. lawmakers expressed frustration that they are being cut out of some of the Trump administration’s most central decisions on military policy and spending. Their concerns, which are shared on both sides of the aisle, concern the budget reconciliation process as well as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s plans to slash…