This is coolbert:Confidence is high! I repeat, confidence is high!
As is apropos to a previous blog entry. Nutshell type stuff the testing on a periodic basis of Minuteman III missiles AND launch crew. Soup to nuts the process explained. Thanks to the article by Jared Keller.
"Here’s How The Air Force Tests A 40-Year-Old Nuclear Minuteman ICBM"
1." Five years 'before the missile is ever launched,' the Air Force pulls a random Minuteman ICBM for a 'test launch' at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California."
2. "Before the ICBM leaves its home base, Air Force personnel conduct an inspection of the transporter erector launcher (TEL) truck that’s used to actually transport the missile:"
3. "Upon arrival at Vandenberg, the TEL is actually erected…"
4. "the Minuteman is hoisted down into a test silo, where other Air Force personnel will fully assemble the ICBM:"
5. "A month later, the ICBM is test-fired at the Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific, some 4,000 miles away while Air Force personnel gather data [telemetry] on the process, from the initial key-turning to impact"
Confidence is high and MUST be high!
coolbert.