Comment:  Very in depth article.

https://theaviationist.com/2025/05/06/sentinel-icbm-new-silos/

Published on: May 6, 2025 at 9:57 PM  by  Kai Greet

"An Air Force Global Strike Command unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile launches during an operation test at 11:49 p.m. PT Feb. 23, 2021, at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. (U.S. Space Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Brittany E. N. Murphy)"

Quote:

The troubled LGM-35 Sentinel ICBM program hit another hurdle as new assessments reveal a previous plan to re-use LGM-30 Minuteman III missile silos may not be feasible.

Breaking Defense reports that the U.S. Air Force is now considering the construction of new missile silos to house its next generation intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), which are scheduled to replace Air Force Global Strike Command’s (AFGSC) current Minuteman IIIs from the 2030s. Prior plans, intended to drastically reduce the cost of the recapitalization program, would have seen existing Minuteman III silos undergo significant modification to accommodate the new missiles.

Quote:

One factor that is thought to be prohibiting the re-use of silos is the increasing age of those existing sites, with some predicting that fielding the Sentinel missiles in Minuteman silos could cause several degrees of tilt to be introduced to each structure. Towards the end of the Sentinel’s expected service life, some of these silos would approach nearly 100 years of age.