| Submit your comments on this article |
| Home Front: Tech |
| Peacekeeper Nuclear Missile Deactivated |
| 2005-09-20 |
| CHEYENNE, Wyo. - Soldiers, civilians and officials participated in a ceremony Monday at F.E. Warren Air Force Base to officially deactivate the Peacekeeper nuclear missile. More than 200 people watched as the last piece of a Peacekeeper was driven down the road at F.E. Warren, commemorating its retirement from the base's missile fields. F.E. Warren oversaw the only squadron of 50 Peacekeepers deployed in the United States. Each 71-foot-tall, 8-foot-diameter missile carried 10 warheads. The United States began removing the Peacekeeper from its intercontinental ballistic missile arsenal in 2002 after it determined the weapons were no longer needed with the end of the Cold War and the demise of the Soviet Union. The missiles, also known as the MX, were taken out one by one, stage by stage, and retired. Ronald Sega, undersecretary of the Air Force, congratulated those who had worked with the missile system. ``The Cold War was won, and the Peacekeeper helped win it,'' he said. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #8 Glereper and Valentine - Absolutely correct, I should have clarified. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2005-09-20 20:19 |
| #7 I was hoping Peacekeeper could find a new home, perhaps Iran or Syria? |
| Posted by: Captain America 2005-09-20 19:11 |
| #6 Not exactly true. The boosters are recycled, so are often the initiators and some other equipment. The plutonium pits themselves, and much of the warhead equipment minus boosters tends to be left intact. Boosters have to be replaced every 5-7 years anyway so this isn't much of a big deal. |
| Posted by: Valentine 2005-09-20 12:01 |
| #5 I think you may be wrong on that Mike. Because of cut backs in production, IIRC they are 'recycling' materials. So an old one is dismantled/destroyed in the process. Just a technicality. |
| Posted by: Glereper Angolutle3263 2005-09-20 08:49 |
| #4 Red Dog- They were saved. For all the disarmament nonsense we hear, not a single US nuclear warhead or bomb has ever been destroyed/disposed of except through accident or damage. They wait. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2005-09-20 07:15 |
| #3 TX Tibor, for the MX. ;) |
| Posted by: Red Dog 2005-09-20 03:29 |
| #2 RD, the article says the missiles were deactivated, not destroyed. |
| Posted by: Tibor 2005-09-20 02:14 |
| #1 ``The Cold War was won, and the Peacekeeper helped win it,'' he said. 10 warheads on the bus WOT, should have saved them just in case too bad for us |
| Posted by: Red Dog 2005-09-20 00:58 |