Minuteman III

The Minuteman III, formally designated LGM-30G, is an American land-based intercontinental ballistic missile built by Boeing and operated by United States Air Force Global Strike Command, entering service in 1970 as an upgrade to the earlier Minuteman II. It was the first deployed intercontinental ballistic missile equipped with multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles, initially carrying as many as three separate nuclear warheads that could strike different targets from a single launch. Housed in hardened underground silos across the northern United States, the Minuteman III has formed the land-based leg of the American nuclear triad for more than five decades, making it, by a wide margin, the longest-serving intercontinental ballistic missile in United States history. The Air Force plans to progressively retire the Minuteman III in favor of the new LGM-35 Sentinel missile beginning around 2030.