A self-styled team of “Disarmament Specialists” comprised of Jackie Hudson from Bremerton, Washington and Carol Gilbert and Ardeth Platte from Baltimore, Maryland, entered and damaged a Minuteman missile silo near Keota, Colorado, Oct. 6, 2002. The three women, all Dominican Sisters, called their action Sacred Earth & Space Plowshares II. Each participated in an action with the same name two years ago at Colorado’s Peterson Air Force Base. In a statement carried to the site they wrote about their intention to, “speak truth to power,” to “enflesh the spirit of truth,” and to “preach truth with love.”
They are charged with a two-count grand jury indictment alleging, 1) injury/interference/obstruction of the national defense, and 2) injury of property of the United States. Taken together, conviction carries a possible maximum of 30 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.
Platte said that the group carried documents explaining the merger of Space Command in Colorado and Strategic Command in Nebraska and the new command’s global reach.
Minuteman III missiles have three 335-kiloton nuclear warheads -- carrying a total of over one million tons of TNT. Taken together, one missile has 80.4 times the power of the Hiroshima bomb. Since that bomb initially killed 140,000 people, one Minuteman III system can potentially kill 11,256,000 people. The U.S. still keeps about 500 of these Minuteman III missiles on alert in the Great Plains.
Part of the group’s prepared statement says, “We, women religious, naming ourselves Sacred Earth and Space Plowshares II, come to Colorado to unmask the false religion and worship of national security.... We reject the U.S. Space Command’s ‘Vision for 2020’ -- to dominate space for military operations; to exploit space as a U.S. 4th frontier, making all other nations vulnerable to U.S. conventional and nuclear attacks; to integrate space forces for war-fighting ... and to waste more billions and billions of dollars and more human and material resources, causing the destruction of Earth and desecration of Space.
“This Plowshare action on the anniversary of the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan is a passionate cry to reign in a nation gone mad -- a nation which prefers dictating to diplomacy -- an empire reaching out to control the Earth and Space. We pray that we as citizens will be awakened and demand a sane and humane approach to life in today’s world. We must not fight terrorism with terrorism.”
The Sisters were dressed in white “mop-up” suits with CWIT (Citizen Weapons Inspection Team) stenciled on the back and “Disarmament Specialist” on the front. They used household hammers to pound on the 120-ton steel and concrete missile silo lid and the tracks that the lid slides over to open the silo. They poured their own blood on the lid, cut cables, and cut the fence surrounding the launch site in three places. The women were inside the always-unguarded compound for an hour before Air Force personnel arrived.
Once finished with their disarmament duties the three Sisters completed liturgy and sang songs before being surrounded by Air Force humvees and personnel brandishing machine guns.
They were placed under arrest and questioned by the FBI then were taken to a local jail.
At arraignment in federal court in Denver, the Sisters refused to sign a personal recognizance bond because it promises no participation in further demonstrations -- a pledge that as a matter of conscience they couldn’t make.
Hardly out of date, Nukewatch’s Nuclear Heartland, featuring detailed maps of the U.S. ICBM missile silo fields, has again been put to good use.
The Disarmament Specialists get mail (envelopes must have your complete return address), and donations with postal money orders only, at, Centennial Jail, 910 Tenth Ave., Greeley, Colo. 80631. Financial support to the defense fund can be sent to Citizens for Peace in Space, Box 15, Colorado Springs, CO 80901.
Mission
The LGM-30G Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is an element of the nation's strategic deterrent forces. The "L" in LGM is the Department of Defense designation for silo-launched; "G" means surface attack; and "M" stands for guided missile.
Features
The Minuteman is a strategic weapon system using a ballistic missile of intercontinental range. Missiles are dispersed in hardened silos to protect against attack and connected to an underground launch control center through a system of hardened cables. Launch crews, consisting of two officers, perform around-the-clock alert in the launch control center.
A variety of communication systems provide the president and secretary of defense with highly reliable, virtually instantaneous direct contact with each launch crew. Should command capability be lost between the launch control center and remote missile launch facilities, specially configured E-6B airborne launch control center aircraft automatically assume command and control of the isolated missile or missiles. Fully qualified airborne missile combat crews aboard airborne launch control center aircraft would execute the president's orders.
An extensive life extension program is under way to keep the missiles safe, secure and reliable well into the 21st century. These major programs include: replacement of the aging guidance system, remanufacture of the solid-propellant rocket motors, replacement of standby power systems, repair of launch facilities, and installation of updated, survivable communications equipment, and new command and control consoles to enhance immediate communications.
Background
The Minuteman weapon system was conceived in the late 1950s and Minuteman I was deployed in the early 1960s. Minuteman was a revolutionary concept and an extraordinary technical achievement. Both the missile and basing components incorporated significant advances beyond the relatively slow-reacting, liquid-fueled, remotely-controlled intercontinental ballistic missiles of the previous generation. From the beginning, Minuteman missiles have provided a quick-reacting, inertially guided, highly survivable component to America's nuclear Triad. Minuteman's maintenance concept capitalizes on high reliability and a "remove and replace" approach to achieve a near 100 percent alert rate.
Through state-of-the-art improvements, the Minuteman system has evolved to meet new challenges and assume new missions. Modernization programs have resulted in new versions of the missile, expanded targeting options, improved accuracy and survivability. Today's Minuteman weapon system is the product of almost 40 years of continuous enhancement.
The current Minuteman force consists of 500 Minuteman III's located at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo., Malmstrom AFB, Mont., and Minot AFB, N.D. The last round of base realignment and closing decisions has forced a realignment of Minuteman missiles from Grand Forks AFB, N.D., to Malmstrom AFB.
General Characteristics
Point Of Contact
Air Force Space Command, Public Affairs Office; 150 Vandenberg St., Suite 1105; Peterson AFB, CO 80914-4500; DSN 692-3731 or (719) 554-3731.
Current as of May 2002
keywords: weapons, guided missile
source: http://www.af.mil/news/factsheets/LGM_30_Minuteman_III.html 31dec02
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