Beginning in the early 1960s, Minuteman 1B missile launch sites were installed in several locations throughout the central and upper United States. Their purpose was to deter Russia from launching a nuclear strike against the United States. At one time there were 1,000 active Minuteman missiles arranged in six wings. The Minuteman II replaced the earlier models beginning in the 1970s. Some even featured multiple warheads inside one missile. Each Minuteman II missile had an explosive yield of 1,200,000 tons of TNT. As a result of nuclear arms reduction talks between…
