Minuteman III test tonight

[darthgently]

 

 

Edited September 5, 2023 by darthgently

[darthgently]

I like how they have to mention the mock warhead to head off global indignation.  Because you know the internet traffic spike that would happen if they hadn't

[SunlitZelkova]

https://x.com/nukestrat/status/1699443848538190175?s=46&t=Jd73T2beq0JLNtwTy1uR5A
 

Wow. This wasn’t any old Minuteman test. It was a test of the MIRV option, with three warheads!

Currently under treaty regulations, each missile only carries one warhead. But due to current events…

A sign of the times to come?

[darthgently]

8 hours ago, SunlitZelkova said:

https://x.com/nukestrat/status/1699443848538190175?s=46&t=Jd73T2beq0JLNtwTy1uR5A
 

Wow. This wasn’t any old Minuteman test. It was a test of the MIRV option, with three warheads!

Currently under treaty regulations, each missile only carries one warhead. But due to current events…

A sign of the times to come?

Not really.  MIRV tests are a normal thing and not in violation of any treaty

https://twitter.com/nukestrat/status/1699452170167320850?s=20

[kerbiloid]

8 hours ago, SunlitZelkova said:

MIRV option, with three warheads

With three peaceheads.

Warheads belong to bad guys.

 

 

[sevenperforce]

12 hours ago, SunlitZelkova said:

https://x.com/nukestrat/status/1699443848538190175?s=46&t=Jd73T2beq0JLNtwTy1uR5A
 

Wow. This wasn’t any old Minuteman test. It was a test of the MIRV option, with three warheads!

Currently under treaty regulations, each missile only carries one warhead. But due to current events…

A sign of the times to come?

My understanding of New START was that MIRVs are fine, but each warhead counts as an individual missile even when clustered on a single missile for the purposes of deployment limits. But maybe I am incorrect.

[TheSaint]

Actually, IIRC, New START places separate limits on delivery vehicles and warheads. 700 delivery vehicles, 1550 warheads. Each missile or bomber counts as one delivery vehicle, and each reentry vehicle or bomber counts as one warhead. (Yes, that's correct. Each bomber counts as one warhead, regardless of the number of warheads/bombs it actually carries. No, it doesn't make any sense to me either. That's diplomacy for you.) Each side is free to mix and match their forces as they see fit within those limits. So you can deploy MIRV-equipped missiles, but not a whole lot of them. IIRC, the US has, to date, chosen to deploy the Tridents as MIRVs, kept the Minutemen as single-warhead, and kept the B-2s as their only deployed strategic bombers.

If I were to hazard a completely un-educated guess, I would say that the launch of a MIRV-equipped Minuteman at this point has nothing whatsoever to do with future plans to deploy MIRV-equipped Minutemen. It is probably testing associated with development of Sentinel.

[kerbiloid]

3 hours ago, TheSaint said:

No, it doesn't make any sense to me either.

It'll likely be dead after a single drop.

3 hours ago, TheSaint said:

I would say that the launch of a MIRV-equipped Minuteman at this point has nothing whatsoever to do with future plans to deploy MIRV-equipped Minutemen.

They actually tested the booster and the post-boost vehicle.

[TheSaint]

29 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

It'll likely be dead after a single drop.

They actually tested the booster and the post-boost vehicle.

Yes, the missile itself was a Minuteman, part of the ongoing stockpile verification (i.e. spot-checking your forty-year-old missiles to make sure they still work the way you expect them to). But I will bet you that the terminal bus and RVs were for Sentinel. Especially since they tried to do a test of the Sentinel hardware last year on a Minotaur (ex-Peacekeeper), but the launch failed.

[SunlitZelkova]

16 hours ago, darthgently said:

Not really.  MIRV tests are a normal thing and not in violation of any treaty

https://twitter.com/nukestrat/status/1699452170167320850?s=20

Yeah, I didn’t notice that tweet until after making my post…

[steve9728]

Hopefully, some lucky civilian airliner flight will get some spectacular shots of the warhead as it re-enters the atmosphere

[DDE]

On 9/7/2023 at 7:51 PM, TheSaint said:

No, it doesn't make any sense to me either. That's diplomacy for you.

Precisely. It was an imperfect solution, much like how the INF Treaty left ships and submarines out of the prohibition of missiles with ranges of 500-5000 km (an omission exploited to hell and back). No satisfactory verification mechanism could be developed to assess the weapons payload of a ship or bomber, and so shortcuts were made in order to reach some deal.

Yes, imagine that there were times where it was considered an end in itself.