This story about the testing of Minuteman launch procedures was interesting to me. The test involves everything up to the actual launch of the missile. Just in case all of the safety precautions fail, they park a truck over the silo as a last ditch effort to ensure there is no actual launch.
Categories: Military
8 Comments
Vitaeus · May 2, 2021 at 9:44 am
You should look at the Navy version of these tests, we did it way more often.
Therefore · May 2, 2021 at 10:05 pm
There is another thing that happens by parking a truck over the silo door. They hung at it in the article. They are telling everybody watching that this is a test. The Russians can see it is just a test, they don’t have to trust or word.
T · May 3, 2021 at 7:38 am
I took part in similar tests in the 1980s-90s Navy. The only way to know for sure something works is to test it every so often, and if you can’t test it from beginning to end (like a DASO launch), you have to test all the bits separately as best you can. The idea was the same, if you’re going to test the very last bit of the system (launching, say) then you disable several preceding parts of the system so you won’t actually launch it if mistakes are made in the test.
I do wonder though if there’s been an erosion of confidence in the services’ ability to do that without fucking it up. (Remember several embarrassing USAF stepping-on-their-dicks mistakes over the past 10 years where things happened that weren’t supposed to happen). I’m sure this test they’re writing about here has all the same safety steps taken but I don’t ever recall hearing about them adding things like trucks on the launch doors to boot.
Note the same principle applies to you CCW people- once in a while you should test your carry gear by going to the range and shoot off (rotate out) some of your carry ammo. The only fair test is to bring it as you carry it and make sure it actually works when you pull the trigger!
If not, clean your piece more often and maybe rotate out the carry ammo more frequently.
Therefore · May 3, 2021 at 1:28 pm
Back when I could buy self defense ammo, my first shoots at the range were from my carry weapon with my standard magazine load without touching or changing anything except for ears.
One of my instructors suggested taking off my coat or at least tucking in my shirt as I drilled from concealed. I told her no, that’s how I am normally dressed as I move around town.
Today I use reloads of JHP for that first dump. I just don’t have enough factory ammo to use it that way.
NTXVet · May 3, 2021 at 9:22 pm
I call “BS” on the truck over the silo door. The concrete door over the silo is multi tons, fired sideways by explosives (visualize a horizontal rocket). There is nothing heavy enough to stop it. The AF tried with ice and sandbags, etc. Get on yootoob and watch the old videos. Minuteman tests go all the way to the keyturn. The system will not launch with a single crew input. There is a time criteria and a “vote count” of the crews. Many layers of checks and balances.
NTXVet · May 3, 2021 at 9:25 pm
The trailer over the silo is moving a warhead or a guidance package.
Divemedic · May 4, 2021 at 4:47 am
Read the article. They did everything for the drill. Keyturn, fired the door, everything except the actual launch. They had safe pins to prevent firing the missile. The truck was placed there in case something went wrong and the missile attempted to launch.
NTXVet · May 4, 2021 at 6:53 am
The door may have been opened, but not with a full launch charge. I repeat, the trailer was NOT to block the missle. It carries warhead or guidance packages and is used by maintenance techs to move things in and out of the silo. What the author was told and what he wrote doesn’t change the facts. C’mon Divemedic, don’t believe everything you read on the internet! Trust an old zoomie to give you the straight scoop.
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