The test launch of the promising GBSD strategic ballistic missile will take place at the end of 2023. It is being developed to replace the aging Minuteman III. According to Airforce Magazine, GBSD will take off from Vandenberg Air Force Base.
The Minuteman is the only land-based ballistic missile in the United States. They have been in service since the 1970s, but have undergone several modernization programs. In the summer of 2019, the US Air Force announced a tender for the development of a new nuclear weapons carrier. According to their requirements, GBSD must use the Mk.12A and Mk headsets.21, in which one or more W78 and W87 nuclear charges can be placed, respectively. Such combat units are on the Minuteman III. The power of the W78 is 350 kilotons, and the W87 is 300 kilotons. To accommodate the carrier, the Minuteman-III missile silos and control systems will be upgraded.
Northrop Grumman and Boeing applied to participate in the US Air Force tender, but in the end, Boeing refused to build the rocket due to dissatisfaction with the conditions. So the development of a new American strategic ballistic missile went to Northrop Grumman. The company successfully defended her project in February. It is assumed that the GBSD will be adopted in 2029, after which they will be part of the US nuclear triad until at least 2075.
Test launches of the advanced strategic ballistic missile will begin at the end of 2023 from Vandenberg Air Force Base. According to USAF GBSD program manager Jason Bartholomew, the rocket is already flying in a simulation environment. He noted that the program will reach full operational readiness only by 2036, when there will be 400 missiles.
As part of the nuclear triad modernization program, the US military is developing not only a new ballistic missile, but also B-21 Raider bombers, as well as the SSBN-(X) strategic submarine .
Vasilisa Chernyavtseva