Operational Test Launch GT 215 is a 'Glory Trip' for wing

  • Published
  • By John Turner
  • 341st Missile Wing Public Affairs
MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. --  In the early hours of March 27, while most of California lay asleep, Vandenberg Air Force Base's Launch Control Center O1-A was buzzing with meticulous, deliberate activity.
As 1st Lt. Kimberly Erskine, 12th Missile Squadron missile combat crew commander, and 1st Lt. Benjamin May, 490th MS deputy combat crew commander, completed operational checklists for the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile under their command--procedures that each had completed dozens of times in training and while on duty at Malmstrom AFB, Montana--the gravity of the moment struck them.

"We were methodically checking everything, and then it kind of hit us: 'Hey, we're actually launching an ICBM,'" May said.

Operational Test Launch GT 215, scheduled to launch shortly before 4 a.m. PDT, would send an unarmed missile from California's coast to a deep-sea target range 6,000 miles away near Guam. The entire flight, from ignition to splashdown, would only take about 40 minutes and was the second extended-range launch of a Minuteman III from Vandenberg in a week. 

Only four days earlier, at 3:36 a.m., crews from F. E. Warren AFB, Wyoming, completed a similar operational test launch. The missiles for both launches were randomly selected from the operational fleet and fitted with telemetry packages designed to gather data on the missiles during operational tests. These launches provide valuable information to the 576th Flight Test Squadron at Vandenberg about the reliability of the Minuteman system.

Operational test launches are used to measure specific performances of the weapon system and verify the accuracy and sustainability of the operational fleet as it is continuously upgraded and modernized. An extended-range test launch pushes the missile to its maximum operating limits and is tracked all the way to the target.

For the missileers of Task Force GT 215, each action has a tangible purpose. Each step is crucial for the missile to be effective.

"We had to send out the calibrations as soon as possible and follow the timeframe exactly," said May. "(The 576th FLTS) only has so much time between when the missile comes online and when we launch. It is important we get the schedule completely right."

Shortly before 3:30 a.m., Erskine and May simultaneously turned their launch keys and sent the first vote required to launch the missile.

Following procedure, a second crew from the 341st Missile Wing continued the sequence. 1st Lt. Cory Seaton, missile combat crew commander, and 2nd Lt. Mark Caiazza, deputy missile combat crew commander, both from the 10th MS, had 30 minutes to complete the procedures that would launch the missile.

Five minutes before launch, as Seaton and Caizza prepared to turn keys that would issue the second launch vote to ignite the missile's rockets, Erskine and May exited the subterranean control center to watch the launch. They emerged into a calm, cloudless, nearly moonless black morning.

Several miles away and separated by rolling valleys filled with coastal sage scrub and gauzy fog, a small crowd gathered in an observation area at Missile Alert Facility O-1E to watch the launch. Approximately 70 Airmen and civilians from Great Falls, Montana, were present. Many arrived at Vandenberg the day before, some by commercial air and some in a C-130 Hercules transport from the 120th Airlift Wing, Montana Air National Guard.

Bleachers inside a chain-linked fence at MAF O-1E were positioned to face toward Launch Facility 04, the site three miles northwest of where the missile would be fired. Flood lights overhead cast yellow-white pools and eerie blue shadows as people formed in the observation area.

At approximately 3:45 a.m. PDT, all the lights at O-1E suddenly snapped off, theatrically indicating that the launch would soon commence.  All eyes now strained towards LF-04, a mere sliver of tangerine light in the distance. It was the only demarcation between obsidian-black earth and an onyx sky.

The anticipation swelled as final checklist items were verified over loudspeakers. Elsewhere, the 576th FLTS monitored every aspect of the mission at the integrated launch center, a control room with more than a dozen military and civilian specialists communicating on headsets while live video feeds of LF-04 projected from large monitors.

"Stand by for terminal count," a male voice boomed over the public address system at O-1E.

At 3:53 a.m. PDT, the horizon blossomed as an expanding dome of orange. The missile emerged as a brilliant comet of fire and thrust heavenward astride a column of silvery gray smoke as it arced toward the test range. Approximately 20 seconds later, the loud, crinkling roar of the missile's rocket motor washed across viewers at O-1E.

As the glowing orb that was the Minuteman slowly shrank among the stars, its first stage could be seen separating and tumbling safely toward the safety corridor in the Pacific Ocean, like a red blinking light.

Only then did the awestruck crowd break its silence with applause.

Col. Tom Wilcox, 341st MW commander, was present for the launch. He praised Task Force GT 215 for emplacing the missile at Vandenberg six weeks earlier, bringing it up on alert, and launching it on time.

In mid-February, 15 missile maintainers from the 341st Maintenance Group went to Vandenberg as part of Task Force GT 215 to put the missile in LF-04 and prepare it for testing. While most of the task force remained in California for six weeks, the five-man missile handling team returned to Montana after installing the first three missile stages into the launch facility. The MHT team came back to Vandenberg March 26 to view the launch.

"What we do day to day is put boosters in the missile silo," said Tech. Sgt. Kalton Nelson, 341st Missile Maintenance Squadron MHT team chief and trainer. "This is our opportunity to see what we do in action."

Master Sgt. Brian Belan, 341st MMXS, was the task force's NCO in charge of the maintenance teams. He said that even though tasks were 'business as usual,' knowing that the missile was scheduled to launch made the job fun. That feeling began back in October when the missile was selected from Malmstrom's 10th MS for this test and taken off of alert.

Preparing the missile for shipment to Vandenberg was a team effort, he said, that included not just his squadron but other organizations within the wing. It also required coordination with the depot at Hill AFB, Utah.

At Vandenberg, members of the task force visited the work sites in their off time to support their teammates on duty, Belan said. The missile crews came to the launch facility to watch missile maintenance tasks, and in return the maintenance technicians received tours of the launch control center from the operators.

"We were able to make a bond as a singular team, as a task force," Belan said. "Everyone supported each other."

As an ICBM operator, Seaton said that watching the rest of the task force in action will help him understand what is happening in the field while he is on alert.

"Now when I talk on the phone with (maintenance teams) I can actually visualize what is going on and maybe help other people visualize it," he said.

The launch is a reminder that everyone in the wing has a role in the day-to-day mission of nuclear deterrence, Wilcox said.

"No matter what job you have, you contribute to this," he said. "That's why we brought (34 Airmen from across the wing) out here, so they can see what they contribute to."

Master Sgt. Jeff House, 341st Medical Group first sergeant, was among those who came from Malmstrom to see the launch. He said that seeing the launch helped him understand the wing's mission.

"I thought it was amazing," House said. "It brings a sense of awe to what the American capabilities are for nuclear defense."

Because an operational test launch is a visible demonstration of the Minuteman III's reliability, seeing it in action allows the members of the wing--as well as the nation and the world--to understand its capabilities.

"It's thrilling for us to be able to do, but I'm really ecstatic that people from the base got to see it," Belan said. "If everyone from all the different agencies gets to bring back a story, I think that will help the entire base."