Launch Facility R-11 (Romeo-11), Meriden Wyoming

Launch Facility R-11 marked the far end of Romeo Flight's Peacekeeper-converted launch-facility chain: a small fenced compound on the Wyoming plains whose surface gave away very little about the weapon system it once supported. Like the other Romeo Flight silos, R-11 was normally unmanned, watched from a crewed underground launch-control network, and later folded into the only operational Peacekeeper missile force ever fielded by the United States.

R-11 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-11, PIN 8511, ILC GHZF, at 41-47-00, 104-34-36. The site is in Goshen County, Wyoming, near Meriden. It is no longer an active missile site.

R-11 sits in rural high-plains country north of Cheyenne and near Meriden, in the northern portion of the former F.E. Warren Peacekeeper field. The landscape around the site is open, agricultural, and thinly populated, the kind of Great Plains setting chosen for Minuteman because dispersed launch facilities could be separated across many miles.

Like other Minuteman-derived launch facilities, R-11 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; those images show the fenced compound and surface features still legible in the post-Peacekeeper landscape. R-11 did not operate as a staffed missile crew post. Missile combat crews served in the associated launch-control system, while maintenance, security, and communications teams visited launch facilities when required.

R-11 began as a Minuteman launch facility in the F.E. Warren missile field. The F.E. Warren Minuteman deployment reflected the national move from liquid-fueled Atlas missiles to solid-fueled Minuteman missiles that could remain in hardened underground launchers and be kept on continuous alert with less 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-11 was one of the fixed points in that dispersed deterrent geography.

As a Minuteman launch facility, R-11 was normally unmanned. It housed the missile and the launch equipment needed to keep it connected to the command-and-control network, while the crewed side of the mission belonged to the Launch Control Center associated with Romeo Flight. R-11 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.

R-11 is decommissioned and no longer supports an active missile mission. 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-11 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