341st Missile Wing Heritage Pamphlet 2018

341st Missile Wing History
341st deployed security, civil engineering, services and support personnel to the Persian Gulf
Area of Operations. On 27 September 1991, President Bush ordered all Minuteman IIs off alert
status and the 341st Missile Wing began deactivation of those missiles. This order affected three-
quarters of the 200 ICBMs assigned to the 341st SMW. In November 1991, the 12th Missile
Squadron's Launch Facility J-03 became the first to have its missile removed in compliance with
the order. It would be three and one half years, until the last Minuteman II in the Air Force
inventory was removed from Kilo-11 on 10 August 1995. As Minuteman II missiles were
removed, a new program called Rivet Add was launched, modifying the remaining Minuteman II
launch facilities under the 10th and 12th Missile Squadrons to accommodate the newer
Minuteman III. One hundred and twenty of the former Minuteman II silos received Minuteman
III missiles from Grand Forks AFB, North Dakota, joining the 70 Minuteman III missiles already
on alert status. This conversion was completed by 1998.
On 1 June 1992, the Air Force restructured its major commands, inactivating SAC and replacing
it with Air Combat Command (ACC). The 341st Missile Wing was subsequently reassigned
from SAC to Air Combat Command. Then in July of 1993, responsibility for the nation's ICBM
force was transferred to Air Force Space Command. On 1 Oct 1997, the wing (along with the
other two ICBM wings) was redesignated as the 341 Space Wing.
In 1995, the Rapid Execution and Combat Targeting, or REACT, signaled the first complete
overhaul of the Minuteman III’s command and control systems. In addition to REACT, In March
1995, the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission selected the 321st Strategic
Missile Wing at Grand Forks AFB, North Dakota for deactivation. The 321st Missile Group
removed the last of its Minuteman III missiles at Grand Forks AFB, North Dakota, for transfer to
Hill AFB, Utah. The 321 SMW earlier transferred 120 of its Minuteman III missiles to the 341st
Missile Wing. This brought the wing strength to 200 Minuteman IIIs on alert status- -the first
time since 1991 that it had a full complement of a single weapon system.
As a result of the 2005 Quadrennial Defense Review, the 341st Missile Wing inactivated the
Minuteman III WS-133B missile system. Members of the 341st Missile Maintenance Squadron
extracted the final weapon system component from the 564th Missile Squadron at launch facility
Tango 41 on 28 July 2008 and the 564th Missile Squadron inactivated less than a month later on
15 August 2008.
On 1 July of 2008, the 341st was again redesignated to its current (and former) name as the 341
Missile Wing.
On 1 December 2009 the Wing was reassigned to the new Air Force Global Strike Command
where it remains on duty 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year.
Throughout recent years, the wing's Minuteman III Missiles have undergone numerous
improvements and upgrades. An extensive life extension program was directed to keep the
missiles safe, secure, and reliable well into the 21st Century. These major programs included:
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.