Launch Facility R-09 (Romeo-09), Meriden Wyoming

Launch Facility R-09 was one of the quiet concrete points in the Romeo Flight grid where three generations of U.S. land-based deterrence overlapped: Minuteman, Minuteman III, and finally Peacekeeper. From the road, the place read as a fenced rural utility compound on the Wyoming plains. In the Cold War system built around F.E. Warren Air Force Base, however, R-09 was a hardened unmanned launch facility tied to a crewed launch-control network and later to the most powerful ICBM ever placed on alert by the United States.

R-09 was a Launch Facility / LF assigned to Romeo Flight, controlled from R-01 Missile Alert Facility / Launch Control Center, in the F.E. Warren AFB missile field. Its parent wing was the 90th Strategic Missile Wing during the Strategic Air Command era, later the 90th Missile Wing. During the Peacekeeper period it was part of the former 400th Missile Squadron Peacekeeper field. Public Peacekeeper field documentation identifies the site as Francis E. Warren AF Missile Site R-09, PIN 8510, ILC GHZD, at 41-48-15, 104-45-05. It is no longer an active missile site.

R-09 sits in the open agricultural landscape north of Cheyenne and near the Meriden area, within the northern portion of the former F.E. Warren missile field. The site was part of the dispersed Minuteman basing pattern in which unmanned launch facilities were separated from one another and from the crewed control site so that a single attack could not easily destroy an entire flight.

Like other Minuteman-derived launch facilities, R-09 was built around an underground missile launcher, a launch-closure area, security fencing, access features, and buried communications and power connections. Public field-photo documentation records general views of the site, roadside sign views, and a HICS marker sign. HICS, the Hardened Intersite Cable System, was part of the hardened communications network that linked Minuteman and later converted Peacekeeper launch facilities to launch-control facilities across the missile field.

As a Minuteman launch facility, R-09 was normally unmanned. Missile combat crews did not sit at the silo; they served in the associated launch control center, while maintenance, security, and communications teams visited launch facilities as needed. The site's role was to house and protect the missile, maintain the launcher and related equipment, and remain connected to the flight's command-and-control network. R-09 was originally associated with the Minuteman I era at F.E. Warren, later stood within the Minuteman III field, and was eventually converted for LGM-118A Peacekeeper service.

R-09 is decommissioned and no longer supports an active missile mission. The Peacekeeper mission at F.E. Warren formally ended on 2005-09-19, when the Air Force confirmed that no Peacekeeper ICBMs remained on strategic alert in the 400th Missile Squadron. Later, New START implementation led to the permanent elimination of the former Peacekeeper launch facilities. F.E. Warren announced in 2013 that 50 previously deactivated Peacekeeper launch facilities north of Cheyenne were selected for elimination, with plans to fill the silos with earth and gravel. The same release stated that after elimination, land-disposition options could include purchase by adjacent landowners, government use, or public auction.

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

Chronology

• 1964 The F.E. Warren Minuteman field was in operational service during the mid-1960s; R-09 belonged to the Romeo Flight launch-facility network.
• 1970s F.E. Warren Minuteman launch facilities were part of the Minuteman III modernization era.
• 1986 The Peacekeeper became operational at F.E. Warren AFB.
• 1988 The Air Force had 50 Peacekeeper missiles in service at F.E. Warren.
• 2005-09-19 The Peacekeeper missile mission ended at F.E. Warren, and the 400th Missile Squadron no longer had Peacekeeper ICBMs on strategic alert.
• 2013-08-23 F.E. Warren announced that 50 previously deactivated Peacekeeper launch facilities were selected for permanent elimination under New START.

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

All Peacekeeper Missile Silo Locations

All Minuteman/Peacekeeper Missile Silo Locations