To learn more about the four different types of the Minuteman deployed during the past half century click on the links below. These are based out of Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, and F.E. At present there are 400 Minuteman III missiles operational on the Great Plains. The Minuteman has gone through several upgrades over the years, increasing its distance, accuracy and efficiency. Warren Air Force Base (200) and Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota (150) They were deployed in six wings out of Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana (200), Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota (150), Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota (150), Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri (150), F.E. During the following year, 1,000 Minuteman's were placed across the central and northern Great Plains. The first Minuteman came online in Montana at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis on October 26, 1962.

The name was also a play on the same term used to describe America's Revolutionary War soldiers who responded within a matter of minutes to protect the homeland from the British. These nuclear sentinels waited silent and deadly to perform their destructive duty at a moment’s notice.

Built to execute a nuclear war, the historic Delta-01 compound cannot be made fully accessible. At the Delta-09 silo, view a nuclear missile which once carried a 1.2 megaton warhead. In total there were 1,000 Minuteman missiles deployed from the 1960s into the early 1990s. Discover the Cold War events that shaped our lives and still remain through a tour of the underground control center at Delta-01. The Delta-09 silo was one of 150 spread across western South Dakota. From the time keys were turned to execute a positive launch command, until the missile left the silo, only took about a minute. From 1963 until 1991 Delta-09 contained a fully operational Minuteman Missile. Remotely controlled from underground launch control centers miles away from the silos, it offered a hair trigger launch response. Air Force would deploy, the Minuteman could stand dormant and unmanned for days, weeks, months and decades on end, needing only limited maintenance and upkeep. The first solid fuelled Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) the U.S. The Minuteman was - and still is today - a technological wonder.

Minuteman missile silo tickets