“Minutemen Missile And Mission” is a circa 1962 color film, produced by the Thiokol Chemical Corporation and adapted for US Air Force use, that serves as “the story of the Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missile to date.” (The LGM-30 Minuteman entered service in 1962, tasked with the deterrence role and threatening Soviet cities with a counterattack if the US was attacked.) The film opens with a scripted scene featuring NBC correspondent Chet Huntley (mark 02:00) speaking with an officer about how America faces the possibility of nuclear attack and how he wants to get the word out about the country’s deterrent power by giving Huntley “the inside story.” Huntley explains the missile in great detail as scenes of its use are shown, and at mark 04:40 explains how small, rocket-propelled and liquid-propelled engines were already in use by the Air Force, but large solid-propelled engines were necessary for an ICBM (mark 06:00). There are scenes of scientists working on the propellant and Air Force personnel working on the tactical aspect of the missile. The economic aspects of the system are examined at mark 07:30. Near mark 08:00, Huntley returns to explain how a Minutemen missiles’ primary mission is as a retaliatory weapon, “a counterforce capable of permanent readiness and instantaneous attack in the event of attack,” with an animation of that scenario beginning at mark 08:24 followed by an explanation of how Thiokol designed the rocket’s engine. There are scenes of the rocket under construction as Huntley reviews the various steps and at mark 12:35 looks at the exhaustive tests conducted.

The LGM-30 Minuteman is a U.S. land-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), in service with the Air Force Global Strike Command. As of 2016, the LGM-30G Minuteman III version is the only land-based ICBM in service in the United States. Development of the Minuteman began in the mid-1950s as the outgrowth of basic research into solid fuel rocket motors which indicated an ICBM based on solids was possible. Such a missile could stand ready for extended periods of time with little maintenance, and then launch on command. In comparison, existing U.S. missile designs using liquid fuels required a lengthy fueling process immediately before launch, which left them open to the possibility of surprise attack. This potential for immediate launch gave the missile its name; like the Revolutionary War’s Minutemen, the Minuteman was designed to be launched on a moment’s notice.

Minuteman entered service in 1962 as a weapon tasked primarily with the deterrence role, threatening Soviet cities with a counterattack if the U.S. was attacked. However, with the development of the U.S. Navy’s Polaris which addressed the same role, the Air Force began to modify Minuteman into a weapon with much greater accuracy with the specific intent of allowing it to attack hardened military targets, including Soviet missile silos. The Minuteman-II entered service in 1965 with a host of upgrades to improve its accuracy and survivability in the face of an anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system the Soviets were known to be developing. Minuteman-III followed in 1970, using three smaller warheads instead of one large one, which made it very difficult to attack by an anti-ballistic missile system which would have to hit all three widely separated warheads to be effective. Minuteman-III was the first multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) ICBM to be deployed. Each missile can carry up to three nuclear warheads, which have a yield in the range of 300 to 500 kilotons.

Peaking at 1,000 missiles in the 1970s, the current U.S. force consists of 450 Minuteman-III missiles in missile silos around Malmstrom AFB, Montana; Minot AFB, North Dakota; and F.E. Warren AFB, Wyoming. By February 2018 this will be reduced to 400 armed missiles, with 50 unarmed missiles in reserve, and four non-deployed test launchers to comply with the New START treaty.The Air Force plans to keep the missile in service until at least 2030. It is one component of the U.S. nuclear triad—the other two parts of the triad being the Trident submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), and nuclear weapons carried by long-range strategic bombers.

We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: “01:00:12:00 — President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.”

This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com