A Minotaur I rocket launch late Monday night at Vandenberg Space Force Base tested a new re-entry vehicle, which carries the warhead, under development for the Air Force for the intercontinental ballistic missile weapon system.
The Minotaur I rocket equipped with an unarmed Mk21A reentry vehicle blasted off at 11:01 p.m. flying over the Pacific Ocean as Vandenberg officials remained mostly mum about the mission beyond issuing a warning notices for boaters and pilots. Vandenberg officials finally released vague details a few hours before the launch window opened Monday night.
“Test launches like these are crucial for protecting our nation’s defense,” said Col. Mark Shoemaker, commander of Space Launch Delta 30 at Vandenberg. “As global threats evolve, it’s essential to support these launches and maintain access to space to safeguard our nation.”
Beyond saying they conducted an in-flight environmental test, military officials did not confirm if they considered the test a success.
The Air Force has contracted with Lockheed Martin for the Mk21A engineering and manufacturing development phase.
Once deemed fully operational, the Mk21A RV will be integrated on the nation’s intercontinental ballistic missile weapon system.
The Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, based in New Mexico, is currently spearheading development of Mk21A.
“The Mk21A RV is crucial to addressing the rapidly changing global threat picture,” said Brig. Gen. William Rogers, Air Force program executive officer for ICBMs. “Its continued development and deployment will ensure a safe, secure and effective deterrent force for the foreseeable future.”
For this mission, the military employed a vehicle from Minotaur family based on retired Peacekeeper and Minuteman rocket motors furnished by the government.
Northrop Grumman equipped the rocket with modern flight-proven avionics and other subsystems to produce what the military calls “cost-effective, responsive launch vehicles to support missile defense testing and other suborbital applications.”
A similar test took place two years ago, but ended in failure 11 seconds after launch from Vandenberg.
The Air Force is developing a next-generation intercontinental ballistic missile under the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent weapons system, also known as Sentinel.
As part of the that effort, the military and defense contractors have been working to modify the existing Mk21 re-entry vehicle, typically a cone-shaped device that sits inside a missile’s nosecone. Re-entry vehicles carry a warhead for the final leg of a trip toward the target.
The program seeks to tweak the older Mk21 re-entry vehicle with the capability to deliver the W87-1 warhead for Sentinel.
That Sentinel weapon system would replace the fleet of aging Minuteman III ICBMs sitting on alert around Malmstrom Air Force Base near Great Falls, Montana; Minot Air Force Base outside Minot, North Dakota; and F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming.