Editing Ellsworth Air Force Base (section)

====LGM-30 Minuteman Missile, 1962–1994====
[[File:Ellsworth AFB Main Gate.jpg|thumb|Ellsworth AFB Main Gate with a B-52D on static display in the background, c.1988]]

In July 1962, SAC activated the [[66th Missile Squadron]], the first of three such units slated to operate 150 [[LGM-30B Minuteman I]] ICBMs under the [[44th Missile Wing|44th Strategic Missile Wing]] (SMW). The [[67th Missile Squadron]] joined the 44th in August, followed by the [[68th Missile Squadron]] in September 1962. The older Titan I's were inactivated in March 1965.

On 1 June 1971, SAC inactivated the 821st Strategic Aerospace Division and by October of that year, an upgraded [[LGM-30F Minuteman II]] also replaced the Minuteman I missiles.

Ellsworth soon became known as one of "The Showplaces of SAC" along with Minot AFB and Grand Forks AFB as it continued to fight the [[Cold War]] by maintaining two legs of America's strategic triad: strategic bombardment and ICBMs. It carried out these missions for more than 15 years with relatively little change. The 1980s brought many new challenges.