341st Missile Wing Heritage Pamphlet 2018

341st Missile Wing History
Demolition Tango 49
To further comply with New START treaty requirements the Air Force ordered that all
Minuteman III missiles undergo reconfiguration to accommodate a single reentry vehicle. On 16
June 2014, missile maintenance technicians (MMT) removed the final multiple independently
targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) from the Malmstrom missile field. The program began as a
result of compliance requirements and began for the 341 MW in early 2012. The reconfiguration
of the ICBM at LF O-10 to a single reentry vehicle (SRV) came as the final MIRVed ICBM in
the Air Force deployed inventory. The removal ended over 40 years of deployed weapons with
multiple reentry vehicles since the 741st Strategic Missile Squadron emplaced the first
Minuteman III in LF H-02 at Minot AFB, North Dakota on 17 April 1970. Further reductions
ordered in 2014 moved the three Minuteman wings toward a projected end state of 400 deployed
missiles by 2018 spread evenly across the three wings.
On 5 August 2014, the 341 MW completed Phase I of the elimination program of the fifty LFs
and five MAFs formerly
assigned to the
inactivated 564 MS. The
wing reached the
milestone as contractors
finished demolition of
LF Tango 49 near
Conrad, Montana. Phase
II of the process began
on 21 July with workers
pouring concrete caps
over the first 40
launchers completed in
the 564 MS ICBM area.
The 341st Missile Wing
originally accepted
Tango 49 as its last
operational missile site
in June 1965.
While serving in its vital role as a strategic nuclear deterrent force, the 341st SMW won
numerous honors. The unit won its first Blanchard Trophy in SAC's annual Olympic Arena
missile competition in 1976, and again captured this most coveted prize in 1986, 1990, and 1991.
The wing also received the Strategic Air Command Commander's Missile Wing of the Year
Award for 1969. After Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) assumed control of Missile
operations, the wing won the corresponding AFSPC competition and the Blanchard Trophy in
1995, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2006, 2008 and 2015. The total number of eleven Blanchard Trophies
won is more than any other Missile Wing in the USAF. The 341st claimed the first back-to-back
trophies in 1991 and earned the distinction of most back-to-back wins after its third in 2008.
The Omaha trophy awarded by the SAC (later STRATCOM) Consultation Committee "to the
outstanding wing in SAC" (in various categories which changed throughout the years) was won
six times by the 341st (1993, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2015). The wing also