Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota and F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming are the primary locations of U.S. nuclear ICBMs. I have blogged about the sad condition of the U.S. nuclear missile force. There are problems with the command staff, the maintenance of the missiles and silos, the training of the officers that man the silos, etc. The missile force used to be one of the top postings for members of the military but now it is a dead end for a military career. The missile bases are targets for Russia nuclear weapon attacks, of course, but there is also concern about a possible ground attack by terrorists. In such a case, a rapidly deployable counter force of U.S. military personnel would have to be on hand to handle it and that may not be available.
Recently, the chairman of panel of the House Armed Services committee that is responsible for the security of the missile bases, said that U.S. military personnel "are not capable of doing the job of responding to an alert" at one of the missile bases. The main problem seems to be that the helicopters that would carry security personnel to a missile base in the event of a security alert are UH-1N Huey models that date back to the Vietnam war. The chairman said “Listen, I don’t like talking about this publicly,” Rogers added in the interview with CQ. “This is a vulnerability that I don’t like being in the public domain. But I can’t get it fixed, apparently, without focusing some attention on this matter and how unacceptable it is. … You’re going to hear my language get more direct on this topic in the coming days and weeks in public. Our situation is completely unacceptable.”
The first mention by the Air Force of the need for new helicopters to replace the old Hueys was in 2004. About thirty Hueys are currently assigned to provide security for the missile bases. There were plans to replace the Hueys but that replacement has been delayed several times. That need has also been mentioned in some Congressional hearings recently but the exact nature of the problem was not made public.
The problem with the Hueys attracted increased attention when they failed to perform adequately in recent annual military exercises at the F.E. Warren AFB in Wyoming. The commander of U.S. Strategic Command demanded the quick replacement of the Huey fleet soon after their failure during the exercises. While the details of the Huey failures is classified, it is known that they failed every time they were tested in the exercises. The Hueys do not have the range to fly the distance from their base to the missile bases, hover over the bases and engage in battles. They cannot lift sufficient weight to carry the required payloads, they cannot operate effectively at night and they can not handle some of the rough weather that occurs in that area.
There is an argument going on in Congress about how to best handle the situation with the Huey fleet. Critics are saying that the fleet should have already been replaced. It has been suggested that the usual competition and bidding process for military hardware be circumvented to speed up acquisition of new helicopters. Up to a billion dollars may be spent in the next five years to accomplish this goal.
Frankly, I am appalled that this situation was allowed to develop. This problem has been well-known for over a decade. The Hueys didn't suddenly develop these deficiencies. They never had the capability to handle the job they were assigned. This is rank incompetence! Fortunately, they have not been needed to handle serious security needs at the missile bases for they surely would have failed. This situation needs to be remedied as quickly as possible. I am dead set against the use of and the very existence of nuclear weapons in the U.S. But, if we have them, then they should be well protected.
Huey UH-N1 helicopter:
