The LGM-30 Minuteman is a US land based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). It is the first solid fuel instant response ballistic missile in the US arsenal, meaning it could be launched instantly at any time (unlike the liquid fueled ballistic missiles already in use when it was originally made that took 30 minutes or longer to fill with liquid fuel and oxidizer before they could be launched). It has three rocket stages and carried nuclear warhead(s).President Kennedy decided in early 1962 that we would field 1000 Minuteman missiles (an overwhelmingly large force considering that the previous Titan liquid fueled ICBM was only fielded 52 missiles) in clusters of underground silos, due to political pressure based on the incorrect perception that there was a "missile gap" where the USS