The U.S. Air Force is holding townhall meetings in Great Falls and Lewistown to provide updates about the Sentinel ground based strategic deterrent missile program.

The meetings are scheduled for:

• Sept. 4 at the Fergus County Fairgrounds in Lewistown
• Sept. 5 at the C.M. Russell High School auditorium

Both town hall meetings start at 6 p.m. and are open to the public.

During the townhalls, Air Force officials will provide an overview of the Sentinel program that is replacing the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile system currently in use at three bases, including Malmstrom Air Force Base.

DOD certifies Sentinel program to continue despite cost overruns

Components and subsystems of Minuteman have been upgraded since it first became operational in the early 1970s but most of the fundamental infrastructure uses the original equipment, according to the Air Force.

The land-based nuclear deterrent ICBM system includes 400 deployed missiles, 450 silos and more than 600 facilities across nearly 40,000 square miles over six states, three operational wings and a test location.

At Malmstrom, the project includes new construction and renovation on base to support Sentinel command, communications, maintenance, training and storage facilities on base.

Air Force responds to city’s questions on Sentinel

Off-base, construction includes:

• renovating 15 missile alert facilities and 150 launch facilities
• constructing 31 communication towers
• acquiring easements to install and maintain 1,277 miles of new utility corridors
• installing and maintaining additional utilities within 1,750 miles of existing utility corridors
• establishing two workforce hubs, one in Great Falls and one in Lewistown, each 50-60 acres in size with 2,500 to 3,000 residents during peaks for three to five years
• establishing construction laydown/staging areas in Augusta, Belt, Denton, Judith Gap, Lewiston, Stanford, Vaughn, and Winifred that will be about 13 acres in size for three to five years

The Air Force contractor will coordinate with city and county officials before selecting sites for those temporary facilities and obtain the necessary permits to meet local zoning requirements.

Sentinel ICBM system completes more tests

In mid-August, the Montana Department of Transportation and the Department of Defense had formalized an agreement to replace 11 bridges on or near MT 81 in the Lewistown area as part of the Sentinel missile project.

The Air Force identified eight bridges as needing replacement and MDT nominated three more.

The Air Force and MDT are using a progressive design-build project delivery method in which both design and construction are under one contract, accommodating input from both agencies and expediting completion.

Air Force officials take public’s questions on upcoming Sentinel missile project

DOD is providing $7 million through the Defense Access Road program, which is run through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration.

DOD and predecessors of the highway administration have cooperated since 1919 to ensuring the military’s needs are considered in the federal highway program.

The Defense Access Road program allows the military to pay for their share of the cost of public highway improvements needed to mitigate an unusual impact of defense activity, according to FHWA.

Defense bill includes pay raises; funds for Malmstrom, MANG construction; language for Sentinel [2023]

“An unusual impact could be a significant increase in personnel at a military installation, relocation of an access gate, or the deployment of an oversized or overweight military vehicle or transporter unit,” according to FHWA.

The program includes a special focus on the Air Force’s ICBM program providing funds annually “for the extraordinary maintenance, extraordinary snow removal and regravelling of transporter erector routes supporting the missile program.”

According to Gov. Greg Gianforte’s office, MDT and DOD are contracting with Montana companies Sletten Construction and Morrison-Mairele for the project.

“Montana, like the rest of the nation, is facing an onslaught of bridges reaching end-of-service life, and we simply don’t have the resources to replace them all at once,” MDT Director Chris Dorrington said in a release. “We are working every angle to improve this, including partnerships, alternative project delivery, ensuring efficient environmental approvals, and bundling multiple bridge replacements per contract. We are grateful for the opportunity to work with DOD on this project as the Lewistown community prepares for the Sentinel Missile program.”

Cascade County Commissioner Joe Briggs told The Electric that there have not been specific conversations about bridges in the county on a missile route that are currently deficient at the current weight specifications for the missile erectors.

He said if that weight specification should change as the Sentinel design evolves, they may find bridges in Cascade County that need improvement and if so, would work with the DOD, FHWA and MDT to address those.

Briggs said the state completed a study a few years ago of all off-system bridges, meaning not on federal or state highways, and the county has been working with MDT to address those deficiencies.