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Library > Fact Sheets > Minot Air Force Base
MINOT AIR FORCE BASE
MISSION
Minot Air Force Base is located 13 miles north of the city of Minot in the north central part of North Dakota. The base covers roughly 5,000 acres, while the base's Minuteman III missile complex includes an additional 8,500 square miles of public land surrounding the installation.
PERSONNEL
The base's work force of more than 6,000 military members and civilian employees makes the installation one of the largest single employers in North Dakota. The base population totals approximately 13,000, including family members, Department of Defense civilians and local retirees.
ORGANIZATIONS AND FUNCTIONS
The base is home to the 5th Bomb Wing and its squadron of B-52H Stratofortress bombers. The bomb wing serves as the base's host unit in charge of maintaining the base's day-to-day activities in addition to its combat mission. Minot AFB is also home to the 91st Space Wing and its fleet of 150 Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles and seven UH-1N helicopters.
HISTORY HIGHLIGHTS
Several Minot businessmen and citizens donated approximately $50,000 to buy the first portions of land for the base. The ground breaking took place July 12, 1955, and construction started within a year. The Air Force accepted the base's first building Jan. 10, 1957.
Air Defense Command's 32nd Fighter Group activated at Minot on Feb. 7, 1957, with the Air Force officially taking occupancy of the base eight days later. In mid-1958, Air Defense Command established the need for a Semi-Automatic Ground Environment, or SAGE, sector at Minot. Activated in June 1961, the blast-resistant concrete building processed air surveillance information and sent the data to Air Defense Command units.
In September 1958, the 4136th Strategic Wing became Strategic Air Command's first permanent unit assigned here. The wing's 906th Air Refueling Squadron activated here in March 1959 to provide air refueling support to northern defense operations units.
The 32nd Fighter Group brought its first F-106 Delta Dart fighters from California in January 1960. The following day, the 5th Fighter Interceptor Squadron transferred to Minot from Suffolk County Airport, N.Y. The scope of operations grew as the Air Force assigned the 525th Bombardment Squadron to the 4136th with its first B-52H Stratofortress arriving here in July 1961.
In late 1961, the Air Force selected the land around Minot for a new Minuteman I ICBM complex. Construction began on the missile complex in January 1962. The first Minuteman I missile arrived from Hill AFB, Utah, and was placed in Launch Facility Alpha-02 on Sept. 9, 1963. In 26 months contractors turned the North Dakota prairie into a potent strategic missile force.
As Minot's mission changed, the SAGE center shut down in May 1963, and the building eventually became home for numerous base agencies. The base's organizational makeup changed in mid-1968 when the 91st Strategic Missile Wing replaced the 455th Strategic Missile Wing and the 5th Bombardment Wing replaced the 450th Bombardment Wing. These units, which distinguished themselves since the beginning of America's military aircraft era, continue to work side by side to represent two elements of America's strategic triad.
Force modernization continued to characterize the base during the 1970s. The Air Force selected the 91st SMW to become its first missile wing to convert its launch facilities to carry the Minuteman III ICBM. The 741st Strategic Missile Squadron became the nation's first operational Minuteman III squadron in December 1970 with wing finishing the conversion by December 1971.
Following the 1980 Iran hostage crisis, SAC tasked Minot's new 57th Air Division to organize the Strategic Projection Force whose conventional combat power included the 5th BMW's B-52H fleet. During this era, the 57th AD became the base's host unit providing logistical, security, administrative and support services.
In the late 1980s, Minot continued to answer America's strategic needs when it started Rivet Minuteman Integrated Life Extension program -- a nine-year missile support systems and facility modification program. Years later, it completed its first major upgrade on the command, control, and communication systems with the installation of the Rapid Execution and Combat Targeting system.
In the early 1990s, the base demonstrated its warfighting capabilities by deploying aircraft and troops to the Middle East during Operation Desert Storm. After the war, the 5th Bomb Wing assumed host base responsibilities after the 57th Air Division inactivated as part of the Air Force's restructing plan.
The base marked the end of the Cold War in September 1991 as the 5th BW's bombers came off alert status after 35 years of serving continuous alert. The base lost one of its oldest units, the 906th Air Refueling Squadron in January 1994 with the base's last KC-135 leaving three months later.
In October 1997, Air Force Space Command redesignated the 91st Missile Wing the 91st Space Wing.
In December 1998, the bomb wing saw combat again in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Fox. Months later, three Minot B-52s and crews joined the 2nd Air Expeditionary Group at RAF Fairford, England, in support of Operation Allied Force over the former Republic of Yugoslavia.
In the weeks following the terrorist attacks against the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, the 5th BW deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Flying from a forward operating location, bomber crews attacked strategic targets in Afghanistan to topple the Taliban regime. Minot's bombers, combined with other Air Force bombers and attack aircraft, flew approximately 17,500 combat missions over Afghanistan, dropping more than 9,550 tons of munitions to damage or destroy roughly 75 percent of all planned targets.
In 2003, the wing deployed approximately 550 people and a dozen B-52s to the U.S. European Command region in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. During the war, the wing's B-52s flew more than 120 combat missions and logged more than 1,600 combat flying hours. For the first time in combat history, a 5th BW bomber crew used a Litening II targeting pod to strike targets at an Iraqi airfield April 11, 2003.
In 2004, the 5th BW deployed to Guam on the AEF bomber rotation to the area providing a stabilizing military force in the Pacific region. The wing also deployed its aviation and maintenance package summer 2005 supporting the global war on terrorism in Southwest Asia.
5th Bomb Wing Public Affairs Office
201 Summit Drive, Ste. 201
Minot AFB, ND 58705
Commercial: (701) 723-6212
e-mail: 5bw.pa.dl@minot.af.mil
December 2009
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