The '''Improved Launch Control System''' was a system used by the United States Air Force's Minuteman II intercontinental ballistic missile force. The system was a method to transfer targeting information from a Minuteman launch control center to an individual missile by communications lines. Prior to the Improved Launch Control System, new missile guidance had to be loaded at the launch facility; the process usually took hours.
==History== The Improved Launch Control System was operational at most Minuteman II wings (except the 44th Missile Wing, which was never upgraded) by the late 1970s. Minuteman III wings had a similar install, designated Command Data Buffer, providing the newer system the potential for remote retargeting. <ref>Department of the Air Force: "Strategic Air Command Weapon Systems Acquisition 1964-1979", 28 April 1980</ref>
==Phaseout== The system was phased out in mid-1990s by the retirement of the Minuteman II force, and the inactivation or reapportioning of units to Minuteman III.<ref>[http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/c3i/react.htm FAS.org: Rapid Execution and Combat Targeting]</ref> It was replaced by the Rapid Execution and Combat Targeting System.
==Chronology== *1979 **1 Mar - 341 SMW's 490th Strategic Missile Squadron completes the Improved Launch Control System upgrades, at a cost of $365 million.<ref>[http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/agency/490ms.htm Globalsecurity.org: "490th Missile Squadron"]</ref>
==See also== * LGM-30 Minuteman * Launch control center (ICBM) * Command Data Buffer - Minuteman III upgrade similar to the Improved Launch Control System
==References== {{Reflist}}
Category:United States nuclear command and control Category:Cold War weapons of the United States Category:Nuclear weapons of the United States Category:Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1979 Category:1979 in military history Category:1979 in science Category:1979 establishments in the United States
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