MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. -- The 341st Missile Wing recently completed a remediation of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, at a missile alert facility. The remediation effort required Malmstrom personnel to identify a residual source of PCBs and install a newly fabricated systems panel to fully remove PCBs from the environment.
The installation reflects the command’s broader commitment to ensuring Airmen across the missile complexes operate in safe, modern facilities, and represents close coordination among engineering, maintenance, and operational teams at Malmstrom.
The newly installed panel houses the main circuit breaker for commercial power at the alert facility. The previous panel contained electrical filters made with PCBs — synthetic compounds the Air Force has progressively phased out from its facilities. Those filters were replaced years ago with PCB-free equivalents, but residual traces of the original compounds remained within some panels, prompting the decision to replace the entire unit.
According to Master Sgt. Zachary B. Walters, a long-range planner with the 741st Maintenance Squadron, replacing the panel was “the most durable way to remove a residual source of PCBs from the crew’s working environment.” The decision to replace the panel followed cleaning projects in March and April 2025. After the team determined that the most effective solution was a replacement, they immediately coordinated with the 583rd Missile Maintenance Squadron to fabricate and install a new unit.
For Airmen who work in missile alert facilities, having safe, well-maintained equipment is more than just infrastructure. It is the environment they rely on while standing watch over the nation’s land-based nuclear deterrent.
The remediation work fits into a broader Air Force Global Strike Command effort to address environmental and health concerns across the missile community. That effort includes the ongoing Missile Community Cancer Study, which resulted in expanded deep cleaning of facilities, remediation where needed and continued bioenvironmental monitoring. “Our missile crews live and work in these facilities while doing a mission that matters every day,” said Col. Conn McKelvey, 341st Missile Wing deputy commander. “Taking care of them matters. These efforts are one way we can show them that what they do counts, and that we are committed to maintaining a safe and healthy place to stand alert.”
The project was the result of close coordination across multiple organizations. Planners with the 741st Maintenance Squadron worked alongside Twentieth Air Force and the ICBM System Program Office to scope the project and align it with sustainment efforts across the missile complex. Once the project requirements were developed, personnel from the 583rd Missile Maintenance Squadron fabricated and installed the new panel.
With the panel installation complete, the 341st Missile Wing continues its mission to deliver safe, secure, and effective intercontinental ballistic missile combat capability, supported by Airmen operating in facilities that reflect the Air Force’s enduring commitment to their well-being.
For more information on MCCS please visit https://www.airforcemedicine.af.mil/Resources/Missile-Community-Cancer-Study/.