Minuteman / Peacekeeper Launch Facility P-07 (Papa-07 LF), Hillsdale Wyoming

P-07 was one of the places where the Peacekeeper story became physical: not in a new missile city or a rail-garrison system, but in a former Minuteman silo on the Wyoming plains. From a distance it was just fencing, poles, hardstand, and grassland north-northwest of Hillsdale. Underground, it belonged to the only operational field of LGM-118A Peacekeeper missiles ever deployed in the United States.

P-07 was a Launch Facility / LF in Papa Flight, F.E. Warren Air Force Base missile field. It was associated with P-01 Missile Alert Facility / Launch Control Center and the 400th Strategic Missile Squadron, later the 400th Missile Squadron, under the 90th Strategic Missile Wing / 90th Missile Wing. The site was originally part of F.E. Warren's LGM-30B Minuteman I force, later served in the LGM-30G Minuteman III era, and was then converted for the LGM-118A Peacekeeper.

P-07 lay in Laramie County, Wyoming, north-northwest of Hillsdale and northeast of F.E. Warren Air Force Base. In Papa Flight's geography, it was farther west than the cluster of Hillsdale-centered P-02 through P-06 sites and formed part of the outer western spread of the flight. The landscape is open ranch and agricultural country, with long sightlines, low relief, section roads, fences, power and communications corridors, and the sense of distance that was central to Minuteman and Peacekeeper dispersal.

As with other Minuteman and Peacekeeper launch facilities, P-07 was normally unmanned. The missile combat crew served in the underground launch-control center associated with P-01, while maintenance, communications, and security forces visited the launch facility as required. The surface site would have included the normal features of a hardened LF: an access road, security fencing, a launcher closure, personnel-access features, underground launcher and support equipment, communications and power connections, and vehicle hardstand or apron features.

P-07 has better visible-condition documentation than some of the adjacent Papa Flight LFs because a non-official photographic survey recorded the site in August 2013, near the beginning of the New START elimination period. Those photographs show a fenced launch-facility compound in open grassland, general views of the fenced site, the silo area, a wind vane, and unidentified small surface features.

P-07 was constructed as part of the F.E. Warren Minuteman missile field, a 200-missile deployment spread across Wyoming, Nebraska, and Colorado. The 90th Strategic Missile Wing was activated at F.E. Warren on 1 July 1963. The 400th Strategic Missile Squadron was organized in 1964, and public wing history states that the 90th SMW placed its 200th Minuteman missile on alert on 15 June 1965, becoming the first fully operational Minuteman wing. P-07 belonged to that 400th Squadron group, later identified with the P-through-T Peacekeeper conversion.

The Peacekeeper era ended in stages. U.S. and Russian nuclear agreements in the early 2000s, budget decisions, and the changed post-Cold War strategic environment led to phased Peacekeeper deactivation beginning in 2002. F.E. Warren wing history states that the 90th Space Wing completed deactivation of the last Peacekeeper ICBM on 14 September 2005, and an Air Force account of the 19 September 2005 ceremony states that a missile combat crew officer at Papa One Launch Control Center confirmed that no Peacekeeper ICBMs remained on strategic alert in the 400th Missile Squadron.

After Peacekeeper deactivation, P-07 became part of the broader New START silo-elimination program. A 2011 Federal Register public-inspection notice stated that New START required the Air Force to dismantle 103 non-operational launch facilities, including 50 Peacekeeper launch facilities of the deactivated 400th Missile Squadron and five associated missile alert facilities at F.E. Warren. The same notice identified possible dismantlement methods including implosion, excavation, and backfill, with complete dismantlement required by 4 February 2018.

For the full Papa Flight narrative, see P-01 Missile Alert Facility / Launch Control Center

Chronology

• 1963-02-21 SAC redesignated the 90th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing as the 90th Strategic Missile Wing.
• 1963-07-01 The 90th Strategic Missile Wing was activated at F.E. Warren Air Force Base with the 319th, 320th, 321st, and 400th Strategic Missile Squadrons.
• 1964 The 400th Strategic Missile Squadron was organized at F.E. Warren; P-07 belonged to the squadron group later converted for Peacekeeper service.
• 1965-06-15 The 90th Strategic Missile Wing placed its 200th Minuteman missile on alert and became the first fully operational Minuteman wing.
• 1972 F.E. Warren began SAC's Force Modernization Program to replace Minuteman IB with Minuteman III.
• 1973 The 400th Strategic Missile Squadron became the first all-Minuteman III squadron in the 90th Strategic Missile Wing.
• 1974-09-03 The 90th Strategic Missile Wing removed its last Minuteman IB from alert status.
• 1982-11 President Ronald Reagan renamed the MX missile Peacekeeper.
• 1984-07 Peacekeeper support-facility construction began at F.E. Warren, according to public site-listing history.
• 1986-10-10 The 90th Strategic Missile Wing had its first strategically postured Peacekeeper site.
• 1986-12-16 The 90th Strategic Missile Wing reached initial operating capability for Peacekeeper.
• 1988 The Air Force had 50 Peacekeeper missiles in service at F.E. Warren; P-07 was one of the former Minuteman launch facilities in the converted 400th Missile Squadron group.
• 2005-09-14 The 90th Space Wing completed deactivation of the last of its Peacekeeper ICBMs, according to the F.E. Warren wing history.
• 2005-09-19 The Peacekeeper mission formally ended at F.E. Warren; a missile combat crew officer at Papa One Launch Control Center confirmed that no Peacekeeper ICBMs remained on strategic alert in the 400th Missile Squadron.
• 2005-10 The 400th Missile Squadron was deactivated after the end of the Peacekeeper mission.
• 2011-02-05 New START entered into force.
• 2011-11-17 The Air Force published notice of intent to prepare an environmental assessment for Minuteman III and Peacekeeper silo elimination/dismantlement, including 50 Peacekeeper launch facilities and five associated missile alert facilities at F.E. Warren.
• 2013-03-22 AFCEC announced the final environmental assessment and draft finding of no significant impact for dismantling deactivated Minuteman III and Peacekeeper launch facilities under New START.
• 2013-08-19 A non-official site-photo survey documented P-07 general views, the silo area, a wind vane, and small surface features.
• 2013-08-23 F.E. Warren announced that 50 previously deactivated Peacekeeper launch facilities north of Cheyenne would be permanently eliminated under New START.
• 2014-12 F.E. Warren's 2013 release identified December 2014 as the planned completion point for eliminating the former Peacekeeper launch facilities north of Cheyenne.
• 2018-02-04 New START required complete dismantlement of covered launch facilities by this date.

Read about the Peacekeeper Missile at F.E. Warren AFB

All Peacekeeper Missile Silo Locations

All Minuteman/Peacekeeper Missile Silo Locations