U.S. nuclear weapons are aging quickly. With few spare parts, how long can they last?
By Tara Copp, McClatchy Washington Bureau
Published: April 4, 2021, 12:30pm
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Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark Milley departs Missile Alert Facility Oscar near Minot Air Force base, N.D., on Thursday. Milley visited the base to get a close-up look at the baseCf`Us aging strategic bombers and missiles before he appears before Congress next month to push for funding to modernize the weapons. (Tara Copp/McClatchy Washington Bureau/TNS)
MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. – When hundreds of land-based nuclear armed ballistic missiles were first lowered into underground cement silos spread across the vast cornfields here in 1970, the weapons were only intended to last a decade before a newer system came in.