U.S. Representative Mike Rogers (R-AL), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, released a statement following reports of problems during a Minuteman III test earlier this week.
"Minuteman III was initially designed in the 1960s and deployed in the 1970s, with an expected service life of a decade. It has served our country well and we will continue to depend on it to deter nuclear war until the 2030s, but this week's test is a stark reminder that nothing lasts forever. Despite this fact, the far-left disarmament community has continued their push to delay the recapitalization of the land-leg of our triad and life-extend these legacy systems instead of replacing them. This debate has grown increasingly detached from reality; further life extension is simply infeasible, and 50-year-old missiles are not the answer to China and Russia's expanding nuclear arsenals. We must modernize our aging nuclear deterrent and replace the Minuteman III missile – as well as the rest of our nuclear enterprise – with modern systems."
