Launch Facility R-10 (Romeo-10), Meriden Wyoming

Launch Facility R-10 was one of the quiet Romeo Flight silos where the F.E. Warren missile field crossed from the Minuteman age into the Peacekeeper age. From the surface, it looked like a fenced utility compound on the high plains north of Cheyenne. Beneath that plain exterior was the hardened launch infrastructure that once tied an unmanned silo to a crewed underground control network and, later, to the only operational Peacekeeper missile force in the United States.

R-10 was a Launch Facility / LF assigned to Romeo Flight and 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-10, PIN 8702, ILC GHZE, at 41-48-51, 104-39-47. The site is in Goshen County, Wyoming, near Meriden. It is no longer an active missile site.

R-10 sits in the rural agricultural landscape north of Cheyenne and near the Meriden area, within the northern portion of the former F.E. Warren missile field. The site belonged to the dispersed Minuteman basing pattern in which unmanned launch facilities were separated from one another and from the crewed control site so that one attack could not easily destroy an entire flight.

Like other Minuteman-derived launch facilities, R-10 was built around an underground missile launcher, a launch-closure area, security fencing, an access road, and buried communications and power connections. Public field-photo documentation records general views of the site. R-10 did not operate as a staffed missile crew post; it was part of the unmanned launcher network monitored and commanded from the associated launch-control system. Maintenance, security, and communications personnel visited the site as mission requirements demanded.

R-10 began as a Minuteman launch facility in the F.E. Warren missile field. The F.E. Warren Minuteman deployment reflected the national shift from earlier liquid-fueled Atlas missiles to solid-fueled Minuteman missiles that could remain in hardened underground launchers and be held at a high state of readiness with far less day-to-day handling than first-generation ICBMs. The National Park Service describes the Great Plains missile fields as products of range, geography, dispersal, and low population density. R-10 was one small but essential point in that wider dispersed nuclear-deterrent landscape.

As a Minuteman launch facility, R-10 was normally unmanned. Missile combat crews served in the underground Launch Control Center associated with Romeo Flight, while the launch facility housed the missile and the equipment needed to keep it connected to the command-and-control network. R-10 was originally part of the Minuteman I era at F.E. Warren, later stood within the Minuteman III field, and then became part of the group of former Minuteman facilities converted for LGM-118A Peacekeeper service.

Public Air Force materials describe the LGM-118A Peacekeeper as a four-stage ICBM and the first Air Force ICBM to use a cold-launch technique. In that system, high-pressure steam ejected the missile from a modified Minuteman underground silo before first-stage ignition. The first three stages were solid-fueled, while the fourth stage, or post-boost vehicle, carried guidance and reentry systems and released up to 10 Mk 21 reentry vehicles on independent ballistic paths. These public technical details explain why the former Minuteman silos at F.E. Warren required conversion before Peacekeeper alert duty.

R-10 is decommissioned and no longer supports an active missile mission. The Peacekeeper mission at F.E. Warren formally ended on 2005-09-19. 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-10 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