12/27/2023 0 Comments North dakota minuteman missile silo![]() Minuteman is “a very cyber-resilient platform,” said Col. Even when missile crews update targeting codes, it is a mechanical, manual process. You would need a shovel - and a lot more - to try to hack the system. Over decades of testing, there are now hundreds of splices in those critical loops.īut it’s also one of the Minuteman’s best features. Any time the Air Force wants to test one of the missiles, it literally has to dig up the cables and splice them, to isolate that test missile’s wiring from the rest. It’s a closed communication loop, and a very secure one that brings its own headaches. It will all be overhauled with the arrival of the new Sentinel system, but some caution that it’s dependence on old technology is what keeps it protected from cyber warfare. The control panel that would be used in case of a silo-based nuclear missile launch is still very much reflective of the 1960s and 1980s technology it still relies on. Air Force, one of the multiple launch switches sits in the upper-left portion of a panel at a missile alert facility launch control center operated by the 320th Missile Squadron at F.E. Those Hardened Intersite Cable Systems, or HICS, cables carry messages back and forth from the missile to the missileer, who receives those messages through a relatively new part of the capsule - a firing control console called REACT, for Rapid Execution and Combat Targeting, that was installed in the mid-1990s. 27, 1962 - the day Cuba shot down a U-2 spy plane at the height of the Cuban missile crisis - the missile has “talked” to its operators through thousands of miles of hard-wiring in cables buried underground. ![]() ![]() Since the first silo-based Minuteman went on alert at Montana’s Malmstrom Air Force Base on Oct. The changes could improve efficiency and quality of life on the bases but may also create vulnerabilities that the analog Minuteman missiles have never faced. The overhaul touches almost everything, even including new equipment for military chefs who cook for the missile teams. New connectionsīy far, the biggest cultural shift the Sentinel will bring is the connectivity for all those who secure, maintain, operate and support the system. “Sentinel, I think quite honestly, is struggling a little bit,” he said.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |