A big story in a tiny little newspaper today.

The forthcoming Quadrennial Defense Review may recommend that the Air Force convert 50 Minuteman III ICBMs to a conventional role, relocating the missiles to Vandenberg AFB in CA from their current home at picturesque Malmstrom AFB, Montana (pictured above).

At least that is what Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND) told told the Minot Daily News:

“Now we face a new risk ­ the new risk, the Quadrennial Review, is under way, the so-called QDR. The way it’s coming down it is also going to be simultaneously a Nuclear Posture Review,” Conrad said.

He said the discussion is about having some of the missiles become “conventionally oriented,” Conrad said.

[snip]

“From my previous reports to you, we know that there was an attempt at a very high level to reduce the number of missiles to convert some of them to conventional use. We know that we were able to help stop that movement during the BRAC process, partly because we learned of it and were able to alert others who pushed back very forcefully,” Conrad said.

“Now we know in the Quadrennial Review this debate has resurfaced and there is a push to reduce the number of missiles dedicated to the nuclear responsibility, shift some of them to a conventional role and that’s got implications for Minot as well,” Conrad said.

“Certainly if you had 150 missiles being converted to that purpose and being shifted to some other launch site, that would pose a severe threat. They couldn’t close the base because we’re past the BRAC process, but they could take away some or all of our missiles, and that would have implications for the future,” Conrad said.

He said the present proposals, near as he can tell from his information, involve a number of missiles significantly less than 150, however.

“Probably the best estimates are they’d be talking somewhere in the range of 50 missiles to be converted from a nuclear role to a conventional role,” Conrad said.

Most likely, he said such a transfer of 50 missiles would be out of Malmstrom AFB near Great Falls, Mont., probably to Vandenberg AFB in California.

I blogged about conventional ICBMs back in April, when Lance Lord mentioned that STRATCOM Commander James “Hoss” Cartwright was excited about the idea.

Past proposals, such as one made by the Defense Science Board, suggested using Peacekeeper ICBMs scheduled to be decommissioned. That would be politically easier than taking away 50 ICBMs from two US Senators.

Another question arises from converting missiles that currently have a day job: What happens to the nuclear warheads? Given current targeting practices, I presume they would not go into storage. That leaves only one option—putting multiple warheads on some of the remaining Minuteman III missiles. These are the kind of Cold War deployment patterns that were supposed to end with, well, the Cold War.

Senator Conrad told the Minot Daily News that he has drafted legislation making it the policy of the United States to maintain 500 land-based ICBMs, each with a single nuclear warhead. More on that tomorrow.

Scott R. Gourley summarizes the arguments for conventionally armed ICBMs in Military Aerospace Technology, based on a presentation by retired Air Force Major General Thomas H. Neary entitled The Future of ICBM Forces.

If anyone has a copy of Neary’s presentation, I am interested.