Minuteman is the United States' strategic land based offensive ICBM. The Mickelsen Safeguard complex was built
primarily to protect the Minuteman launch facilties based at Grand Forks Air Force Base, although it also
provided some limited protection of civilian population centers and other offensive ICBM fields. After more than
thirty years on alert in North Dakota, during the summer of 1998 the last Minuteman III was removed from its
silo, and the 321st Missile Group at Grand Forks AFB was deactivated.
GTE (General Telephone & Electronics) proposed a system for coordinating Minuteman and Safeguard to prevent "fratricide" of Minuteman offensive missiles by
Safeguard defensive missiles when both systems were actively carrying out their mission during a hostile ICBM attack. It apparently never got off the drawing board.
Diagram: (M) (L) <$
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More information:
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321st Missile Wing at Grand Forks: Cold War Legacy (PDF)
Minuteman Missile - A Tribute To The ICBM Program (Links)
Oscar-00 Missile Alert Facility & November-33 Launch Facility (Links)
Oscar-01 Missile Alert Facility (Links)
