U.S. will cut deployed nuke missile force by 50

[unhappycamper]

http://hamptonroads.com/2014/04/us-will-cut-deployed-nuke-missile-force-50

U.S. will cut deployed nuke missile force by 50
By Robert Burns
The Associated Press
© April 9, 2014

WASHINGTON

The U.S. will keep its current force of 450 land-based nuclear missiles but remove 50 from their launch silos as part of a plan to bring the U.S. into compliance with a 2011 U.S.-Russia arms control treaty, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

The resulting launch-ready total of 400 Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missiles would be the lowest deployed ICBM total since the early 1960s.

The decisions come after a strong push by members of Congress from the states that host missile bases — North Dakota, Wyoming and Montana — to not eliminate any of the silos from which the missiles would be launched. Fifty silos will be kept in "warm" status — empty of missiles but capable of returning to active use.

Sen. John Tester, a Montana Democrat, called the Pentagon's announcement "a big win for our nation's security and for Malmstrom Air Force Base," home of the 341st Missile Wing with 150 Minuteman 3 missiles.