One of the most fearsome weapons developed, the Minuteman III was the world''s first Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM)
equipped with a Multiple Independent Reentry Vehicle (MIRV) that permits each missile to carry multiple warheads, and direct each one at a separate target. It is expected to remain in service until the year 2020. After 2004, when the Peacekeeper missile retired under the terms of the START II treaty, it became the sole land-based ICBM deployed by the United States.
The Minuteman was conceived in the late 1950s and deployed in the early 1960s. It was a revolutionary concept and an extraordinary technical achievement in the sense that 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.
The
development of the Minuteman III, the last of the series, began in December 1964. By the time the last Minuteman IIs of the 564th SMS were placed on strategic alert in the spring of 1967, significant progress had been made on the development of the more advanced Minuteman III ICBM. The Minuteman III, using modernized Minuteman I and Minuteman II ground facilities, provided reentry vehicle and penetration aids deployment flexibility, increased payload, and improved survivability in a nuclear environment.