The Pentagon will soon face the fact that the US Army will be armed with obsolete intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) sixty years ago. This is stated in an article by military expert Peter Hussie for the National Interest.
The author pointed to the need to create new nuclear strategic deterrence missiles (GBSD) and criticized the supporters of the program to extend the life of Minuteman III missiles.
Hussie clarified that the Minuteman III missiles had already been upgraded twice in the late 90s and early 2000s to extend their service life until 2030.
“Unfortunately, the life of the Minuteman III can no longer be extended,” the observer notes.
According to him, the United States needs to improve the entire system related to intercontinental ballistic missiles: infrastructure, command and control, and an industrial base. According to Hussie, the “cheaper” Minuteman III ICBM life extension program does not account for the cost of these critical components.
In turn, the deputy head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Armed Forces, General John Hayten, explained that the old sixty-year-old missiles would begin to fall apart in ten years. This idea is fully shared by the head of the US Strategic Command, Admiral Charles Richard. They both stressed that if the US military is not modernized, the current ICBM system will literally rust, the article says.
“The Minuteman III missile life extension program is unable to provide the deterrent capability that Strategic Command requires. It will leave America with an outdated half-century technology, which will bring the country a lot of technical, financial and material problems, ”the author summed up.
In December last year, Russian military expert Igor Korotchenko said that Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles are capable of penetrating the American anti-missile defense (ABM) system through their new combat equipment. According to him, within the next 15-20 years, the United States will not be able to develop effective means of anti-missile interception.