U.S. Air Force test-launched an unarmed Minuteman III ICBM from the Vandenberg Air Force Base.
This test is done to verify the reliability and accuracy of the weapons system.
For the knowledge of viewers, the Minuteman III was the world's first MIRV (Multiple Independent Reentry Vehicles) ICBM (Inter Continental Ballistic Missile), and
Minuteman series of missile are the only land based ICBM in United States arsenal.
The missile flew 6750 km (4,200 miles) to a test range near the Kwajalein Atoll, in
the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean. USA currently has no plans for speedy replacement
of this missile, and the upgrade road map has goal to deliver the first batch of new
missiles only by 2029 at the earliest.
Russia has gone ahead with development of RS-28 Sarmat ICBM, and plans to deploy these
to units in Siberia and the southern Urals by 2018.
In this video, Defense Updates analyzes ‘How’ USA is falling behind Russia in land based
ICBM force. Then we look for the main reason, that is
the ‘Why’ part. So lets get started.
The Minuteman system is more than 50 years old. These were designed during the 1950s
and introduced in 1962 as counterattack and deterrent against the Soviets. It has an approximate
range of 13000 km (8,100 miles), a speed of more than 24000 km (15,000 miles) per hour.
The subsystems like sensors and guidance are all build with technology that is prehistoric
by todays standards.
After being launched, a Minuteman III cannot be remotely disabled, disarmed, or called
back. This was done fearing that an adversary might somehow gain control of it and destroy
all the missiles mid-flight. So, launching a Minuteman 3 will need a much more decisive
and clear understanding of the scenario than a modern missile, which can be halted mid
flight. This can negatively impact United States’s response during any nuclear exchange.
Unlike Minuteman III, RS-28 Sarmat is having state of art technology and has been designed
keeping in mind the needs of modern war scenarios.
The advance guidance and sensors results in higher accuracy and reliability of the system.
The locations of the Minuteman III silos, have been chosen more than half a century
ago. The silos aren’t hardened enough to survive a nuclear detonation, and their coordinates
are well known, so the Minuteman III is extremely vulnerable to attack. The US President would
be under great pressure, at the outset of a war with Russia, to “use them, or lose them.”
RS-28 Sarmat will be concealed in state of art silos, which are specifically designed
to resist nuclear hits and is expected to be stealthy dispersed in vast Russian wilderness,
making then extremely difficult to take out.
Minuteman III can carry warhead of around 1150 kg whereas, RS 28 Sarmat weights 100
tonnes and can carry warheads of about 10 tonnes or 10,000 kg making it the largest ICBM ever.
So a single Sarmat has payload capacity equal to about 8 to 9 Minuteman III missile, and
hence will have much larger destructive force.
Minuteman III carries a maximum of 3 warheads. It was extremely impressive for the era it
was designed. But not now, RS-28 Sarmat could carry as many as 24 independently targeted warheads.
Unlike Minuteman III, it will also be equipped with maneuvering warheads.
Maneuvering warheads can change their trajectory to defeat Ballistic Missile Defense systems,
which make them very difficult to intercept.
Minuteman III was designed when there were no Ballistic Missile Defense systems to counter.
But the situation has changed completely. Russia deploys S 400 ballistic missile defense
system, which is the most formidable missile defense system in the world.
Just one S 400 system can control up to 72 launchers, with a maximum of 384 missiles.
It can simultaneously engage up to 80 targets.
Upgrade of S 400, S 500 is already being developed. The S500 is being designed to combat even
Inter Continental Ballistic missiles.
As per some sources, the S 500 system can detect ballistic missile at a range of 2,000
km and warheads of ballistic missiles at a range of 1,300 km. It can defeat ballistic
missiles before their warheads re-enter atmosphere.
Minuteman III may find it difficult to penetrate regions defended by modern ballistic defense system.
Like other modern Russian ICBMs such as the Yars, Topol-M and the Bulava, the Sarmat is
being designed specifically to overcome ballistic missile defenses using a combination of decoys,
complex trajectory, a host of electronic countermeasures and speed.
Let us now understand ‘Why’ US is lagging behind Russia in this category.
American presidents cannot single-handedly call for defense spending without approval
of Congress. In America, it’s tough to get Congress to allocate budget for expensive
programs like this.
But in Russia, everything depends on what President Vladimir Putin wants.
If Mr. Putin wants weapons modernization, he will have his way. Putin’s party, United
Russia, has consistently won supermajorities in the Russian assembly, which means his MPs
do not need support from other parties to pass legislation.
As per our analysis United States need to upgrade its land based ICBMs sooner than later.
Keeping in view, the Minuteman III upgrade program need to be prioritized, so that the
deployment of new system can starts much before the current timeline of 2029.