Missile Alert Facilities And Sentinel Launch Facilities

Based on information provided by Air Force Global Strike Command, the plan is to demolish all 45 Missile Alert Facilities, MAF, in the field.

At which point the Air Force will construct a communication support building at each MAF location.

For each missile wing, FE Warren, Malmstrom and Minot AFB, approximately 8 Launch Centers will be constructed at the MAF, totaling approximately 24 Launch Centers for the three Missile Wings combined.

With the existing structure of the three existing Missile Wings, for each wing there are 15 Missile Alert facilities, overseeing 150 Launch Facilities - which equates to 10 Launch Facilities being overseen by each MAF. With the new plan being developed with the Sentinel Missile, reducing the number of MAFs to 8, will require that each Launch Center (MAF) - now being called a Launch Center - will then be responsible for overseeing 18 or more Launch Facilities, per Launch Center

Keep in mind that this information has been gleaned from various sources discussing the initial plans of moving forward with constructing the new Sentinel missile system. Nothing has been documented as the final plans regarding the Sentinel missile, its new Launch Centers (MAF) and completely renovated Launch Facilities

As illustrated by the artist concept of the Launch Facility that will house the Sentinel missile, this new structure will significantly change the layout of the Launch Facilites at FE Warren, Malmstrom, and Minot Air Force Bases.

When a maintenance team comes to work on the Sentinel missile and its components, accessing the LF will be much different then has occurred in the past.

One design feature being incorporated into the Sentinel missile will allow the maintenance crews to access various components of the missile, without having to open the Launcher Closure Door. In the past, once the missile was exposed with the Launcher Closure Door being opened, security at the Launch Facility had to be increased exponentially.

With the new Sentinel missile, this will be an excellent feature of getting access to the missile while the Launcher Closure Door is still closed. The maintenance team can then focus primarily on the work needed to be done, without the added worry of the security of the missile.