Helikopter - AW139A Grey Wolf på jobb nær ICBM baser i USA snart - Air & Space Forces Magazine

 

An MH-139A Grey Wolf lifts an Air Force Global Strike Command Detachment 7 special mission aviator into the air April 26, 2023 at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. (U.S. Air Force photo by Samuel King Jr.)

How the Air Force Will Guard its New Sentinel ICBMs, Part 1: Prepping for the Grey Wolf

July 12, 2023 | By David Roza

Editor’s Note: This article is the first of a three-part series on the future of how Air Force security forces will guard the service’s nuclear missile fields.

F.E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, Wyo.—Among the gentle hills of the missile field at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, security forces Airmen stay on alert, ready to respond to any attack on America’s Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles.

On May 21, practicing for just such a situation, the Airmen boarded Humvees and Huey helicopters, using rifles, machine guns, and the chopper’s M-240 gun to destroy the enemy in a simulated attack on a missile launch facility.

Yet many of those tools are obsolete. A few of the base’s 54-year-old Huey helicopters served in the Vietnam War. Many of the Humvees are similarly outdated. And the communications networks Airmen rely on are inefficient compared to what current technology can provide.

While the age of their equipment does not stop security forces Airmen and helicopter crews from defending F.E. Warren’s missiles, a batch of new platforms and technologies will boost the nuclear defense enterprise—modernization that comes just as the replacement for the Minuteman III, the Sentinel, is poised to come online in the 2030s. The hope is these capabilities will help security forces respond faster and hit harder than ever before, while the Sentinel itself will require a smaller security footprint due to easier maintenance and enhanced communication networks.

“This is a great place and time for defenders because of the new capabilities as they come online,” William McIntyre, chief of nuclear security for the 20th Air Force, responsible for America’s ground-based nuclear missile fleet, told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “Whether that be a vehicle, airlift, or communications equipment. That capability increases our mission readiness and mission assurance.”