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Nuclear Silo Has Been on High Alert for 40 Years
Aired October 17, 2002 - 14:41 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Forty years ago this week, U.S. reconnaissance photographed Soviet missiles being built in Cuba.
The U.S. base that was on alert for the Cuban missile crisis remains at the ready today.
Our Jeff Flock is at the Malmstrom Air Base for us -- Air Force base, rather, in Montana, with a live look at this.
Hi, Jeff. You're looking good up there.
JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, thank you.
It's a real treat for us today to be both in a launch control facility earlier this day and now about as up close and personal with a Minuteman III missile as I possibly can be. Perhaps from that high perspective you get some real sense of what one of these missiles looks like.
I'm with Tech Sergeant Chriss Hart here, who can maybe orient us to some degree of what we're talking about when we talk a Minuteman III.
Where is the war head on this, by the way?
TECH SGT. CHRISS HART, MALMSTROM AFB, MONTANA: That would be up in the silver titanium piece, up on the top of the missile.
FLOCK: Could we head upwards a little bit?
HART: Sure.
FLOCK: And how many war heads typically would this have? They would be nuclear war heads, correct?
HART: There would be anywhere from one to three war heads in this.
FLOCK: OK. Now how does it get where it needs to go and perhaps we can rotate around as we talk?
HART: First -- the first -- the three down stages, all a propellant rocket motors below us.
FLOCK: That's the green -- the green that we're seeing down there.
HART: Would each burn first stage, second stage and third stage for about a minute each.
Then after that, they would each separate after they're burned. The missile guidance set and the propulsion system rocket engine would take over flight and deliver the one, two or three warheads to whichever...
FLOCK: Whatever target was targeted. Now, you said you've been working on these missiles for...
HART: About 15 years.
FLOCK: Amazing to note that at this base and at the Alpha 1 where we were this morning, they've been on alert for 40 years straight. No stops, 24/7, 365 days a year.
HART: That's correct, sir. Yes. It's just an amazing thing.
FLOCK: It is kind of amazing.
And as a result of all this maintenance that you do, because they stay hot the whole time.
HART: That's correct, sir. The missiles are on alert 24/7, 365 days a year, so there are components that fail and then that is our job in the missile maintenance community to go out and remove and replace those components to put that missile back on alert.
FLOCK: As we talk, maybe can we go up a little higher, if that's possible? Forty years ago is when they first went on alert. This was what President Kennedy then called "the ace in the hole."
Why is -- why is ACBM like this, the Minuteman, what was then the Minuteman I , now the III, why is it an ace in a hole? Why is it such an important weapons system?
HART: Well, sire, it's on alert. It's 24/7, like we said earlier, 365 days a year at the president's...
FLOCK: Command.
HART: Command for, you know, if he determines that they need to make a nuclear yield or attack a target, he has this in his backpocket per se that he knows it's on alert and over a 99 percent alert rate standing by.
FLOCK: Fortunately, you've never fired one of these in anger. We've seen test firings of these in Vannenberg Air Force Base California, but fortunately you've never had to fire one in anger.
If you did, would this be usable anymore, this silo here.
HART: No. It would -- it would -- a lot of it would be burned up from the propulsion of the missile leaving the silo. There would be a lot charred...
FLOCK: So these are one shot deals? HART: Right.
Sergeant, I appreciate it very much.
An extraordinary look, Carol, at just what this missile looks like. Amazing to think that now for 40 years missiles like this, Carol, have been on alert in Montana and elsewhere around the U.S. in silos just like this one.
Back to you.
LIN: That is amazing. All right.
Thank you very much, Jeff.
That's a great live look at our defense systems here in the United States.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 17, 2002 - 14:41 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Forty years ago this week, U.S. reconnaissance photographed Soviet missiles being built in Cuba.
The U.S. base that was on alert for the Cuban missile crisis remains at the ready today.
Our Jeff Flock is at the Malmstrom Air Base for us -- Air Force base, rather, in Montana, with a live look at this.
Hi, Jeff. You're looking good up there.
JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, thank you.
It's a real treat for us today to be both in a launch control facility earlier this day and now about as up close and personal with a Minuteman III missile as I possibly can be. Perhaps from that high perspective you get some real sense of what one of these missiles looks like.
I'm with Tech Sergeant Chriss Hart here, who can maybe orient us to some degree of what we're talking about when we talk a Minuteman III.
Where is the war head on this, by the way?
TECH SGT. CHRISS HART, MALMSTROM AFB, MONTANA: That would be up in the silver titanium piece, up on the top of the missile.
FLOCK: Could we head upwards a little bit?
HART: Sure.
FLOCK: And how many war heads typically would this have? They would be nuclear war heads, correct?
HART: There would be anywhere from one to three war heads in this.
FLOCK: OK. Now how does it get where it needs to go and perhaps we can rotate around as we talk?
HART: First -- the first -- the three down stages, all a propellant rocket motors below us.
FLOCK: That's the green -- the green that we're seeing down there.
HART: Would each burn first stage, second stage and third stage for about a minute each.
Then after that, they would each separate after they're burned. The missile guidance set and the propulsion system rocket engine would take over flight and deliver the one, two or three warheads to whichever...
FLOCK: Whatever target was targeted. Now, you said you've been working on these missiles for...
HART: About 15 years.
FLOCK: Amazing to note that at this base and at the Alpha 1 where we were this morning, they've been on alert for 40 years straight. No stops, 24/7, 365 days a year.
HART: That's correct, sir. Yes. It's just an amazing thing.
FLOCK: It is kind of amazing.
And as a result of all this maintenance that you do, because they stay hot the whole time.
HART: That's correct, sir. The missiles are on alert 24/7, 365 days a year, so there are components that fail and then that is our job in the missile maintenance community to go out and remove and replace those components to put that missile back on alert.
FLOCK: As we talk, maybe can we go up a little higher, if that's possible? Forty years ago is when they first went on alert. This was what President Kennedy then called "the ace in the hole."
Why is -- why is ACBM like this, the Minuteman, what was then the Minuteman I , now the III, why is it an ace in a hole? Why is it such an important weapons system?
HART: Well, sire, it's on alert. It's 24/7, like we said earlier, 365 days a year at the president's...
FLOCK: Command.
HART: Command for, you know, if he determines that they need to make a nuclear yield or attack a target, he has this in his backpocket per se that he knows it's on alert and over a 99 percent alert rate standing by.
FLOCK: Fortunately, you've never fired one of these in anger. We've seen test firings of these in Vannenberg Air Force Base California, but fortunately you've never had to fire one in anger.
If you did, would this be usable anymore, this silo here.
HART: No. It would -- it would -- a lot of it would be burned up from the propulsion of the missile leaving the silo. There would be a lot charred...
FLOCK: So these are one shot deals? HART: Right.
Sergeant, I appreciate it very much.
An extraordinary look, Carol, at just what this missile looks like. Amazing to think that now for 40 years missiles like this, Carol, have been on alert in Montana and elsewhere around the U.S. in silos just like this one.
Back to you.
LIN: That is amazing. All right.
Thank you very much, Jeff.
That's a great live look at our defense systems here in the United States.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
