341st Missile Wing The United States Air Force ' s 341st Missile Wing ( 341 MW ) is an intercontinental ballistic missile unit headquartered at Malmstrom AFB , Montana . Until 1 July 2008 , it was designated as the 341st Space Wing . Established as a World War II Tenth Air Force B - 25 Mitchell bomb group in India , the unit served as part of Strategic Air Command during the early part of the Cold War as a B - 47 Stratojet wing , before becoming an Intercontinental ballistic missile unit in 1962 . Today , the 341st is one of three remaining United States Air Force wings that maintain and operate the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile . Mission . The 341st Missile Wing reports directly to Twentieth Air Force , F . E . Warren Air Force Base , Wyoming . , and is part of Air Force Global Strike Command , headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base , Louisiana . The mission of the 341st Missile Wing is to defend America with safe , secure , effective nuclear forces and combat - ready airmen . History . World War II . The 341st Missile Wing has its origins in the China - Burma - India Theater of World War II , being activated in India on 15 September 1942 . The unit was one of the first bomber units in the CBI ; being equipped with B - 25 Mitchell medium bombers which were shipped from the United States to Karachi . The aircraft were readied for flight operations by Air Technical Service Command at Karachi Air Depot and dispatched to Chakulia Airfield , now in Bangladesh in December . The group was formed with two bomb squadrons ( 11th , 22d ) which had been attached to the 7th Bombardment Group since May 1942 , and two newly activated squadrons ( 490th and 491st ) . The 11th Bomb Squadron was already in China , having flown combat missions with China Air Task Force since 1 July 1942 . Planes and crews of the 22nd had been flying recon and tactical missions over north and central Burma , also since July . The group entered combat early in 1943 and operated chiefly against enemy transportation in central Burma until 1944 . Bombed bridges , locomotives , railroad yards , and other targets to delay movement of supplies to the Japanese troops fighting in northern Burma . The 341st Bomb Group usually functioned as if it were two groups and for a time as three . Soon after its activation in September 1942 , 341st Bomb Group Headquarters and three of its squadrons , the 22nd , 490th and 491st , were stationed and operating in India under direction of the Tenth Air Force , while the 11th squadron was stationed and operating in China under direction of the " " China Air Task Force " " , which was later reorganized and reinforced to become the Fourteenth Air Force . Fourteen months later the Group Headquarters along with 22nd and the 491st squadrons joined the 11th squadron under the command of 69th Composite Wing , Fourteenth Air Force . 341st Group HQ was Kunming and the 22nd and 491st were at Yangkai , while the 11th continued to be based at Kweilin , attached to the 68th Composite Wing . However , the 490th " " Burma Bridge Busters " " remained in India , under the command of Major - General Howard Davidson ' s Tenth Air Force . Still later the 11th Squadron and a detachment of the 491st operated for a time under the East China Task Force . From several airfields in China the group engaged primarily in attacking enemy concentrations and storage areas and in conducting sea sweeps and attacks against inland shipping . They also bombed and strafed such targets as trains , harbors , and railroads in French Indochina and the Canton - Hong Kong area of China . Received a DUC for developing and using a special ( glip ) bombing technique against enemy bridges in French Indochina . It was inactivated on 2 November 1945 , the day after Group and Squadron personnel debarked at Newark , New Jersey . Bombardment Wing . Reactivated in September 1955 at Abeline AFB ( later Dyess AFB ) , Texas as a Strategic Air Command B - 47E Stratojet unit which were designed to carry nuclear weapons and to penetrate Soviet air defenses with its high operational ceiling and near supersonic speed . The 341st flew the B - 47 in training missions and participated in various SAC exercises and deployments with the Stratojet to bases in Morocco and England designed for forward deployments . Also controlled a KC - 97 Stratotanker squadron to provide air refueling for B - 47 operations . In 1958 after the loss of some aircraft in clandestine Cold War operations ; it was believed that Soviet air defenses had caught up to the ability of the B - 47 to successfully penetrate Soviet airspace if called to combat duty . The Stratojet began to be phased out of the inventory and the 341st Bomb Wing began sending its aircraft to storage at Davis - Monthan AFB in 1961 . The unit was inactivated on 25 June . Strategic Missile Wing . On 15 July 1961 the 341st was reactivated as the 341st Strategic Missile Wing ( SMW ) . A year later , in late July 1962 , the first LGM - 30A Minuteman I ICBM arrived at Malmstrom and was placed at Alpha - 9 launch facility . The 10th Strategic Missile Squadron ( SMS ) accepted its final missile on 28 February 1963 . Two months later , the 12th SMS became 100 percent combat ready . In July , the 490th SMS became fully operational , giving the 341st SMW responsibility for 150 silos . In August 1964 , the Air Force announced plans to build an additional 50 silos assigned to the 341st to house LGM - 30F Minuteman II missiles . As construction of these new silos proceeded through 1966 , the 564th SMS stood up on 1 April 1966 . Just over a year later America ' s 1 , 000th Minuteman missile would be in place and on alert at Malmstrom . This milestone marked the completion of Minuteman deployment by the United States . While new Minuteman IIs deployed with the 564th , upgrading of the Minuteman I models had been ongoing with the wing starting a transition from " A " to " B " models in August 1964 . By June 1969 , all Minuteman Is , both " A " and " B " models , were replaced by Minuteman II models . In 1975 , the 564th SMS switched from the Minuteman II to the LGM - 30G Minuteman III model . In November 1975 , the wing began an integrated improvement program that included a command data buffer and an improved launch control system . In 1985 , the 341st SMW became the lead unit in the Minuteman Integrated Life Extension program ( Rivet Mile ) . While serving as a deterrent force , the 341st SMW won numerous honors . The unit won its first Blanchard Trophy in SAC ' s annual Olympic Arena missile competition in 1976 and again captured this most coveted prize in 1986 , 1990 , and 1991 . The unit has won additional accolades over the years . On 28 September 1991 , President Bush ordered all Minuteman IIs off alert status . This order affected three - quarters of the 200 ICBMs assigned to the 341st SMW . On 1 September 1991 the 341st SMW was redesignated simply a Missile Wing , part of Strategic Air Command ' s Twentieth Air Force . As such it apparently became the only formation designated a ' Missile Wing ' ever assigned to SAC . The 341st Missile Wing was reassigned from SAC to the Eighth Air Force of Air Combat Command on 31 May 1992 . In accordance with the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty ( START ) , on 28 September 1991 , the 341st Missile Wing began taking its Minuteman IIs off alert and began deactivation of the missiles . The Air Force removed 150 Minuteman II missiles from their silos . Fifty of the vacated silos received Minuteman III missiles , joining the 50 Minuteman III missiles already on alert status . This conversion was completed by 1994 . In March 1995 , the Base Realignment and Closure ( BRA0 Commission selected the 321st Strategic Missile Wing at Grand Forks AFB , North Dakota for deactivation . The 321st Missile Group transferred control of its Minuteman III silos and alert responsibilities to the 341st Missile Wing on 30 September 1998 . As a result of the 2005 Quadrennial Defense Review , the 341st Missile Wing deactivated the Minuteman III WS - 133B missile system and subsequent inactivation of the 564th Missile Squadron on 19 August 2008 On 1 December 2009 it was reassigned to the new Air Force Global Strike Command where it remains on duty 24 hours a day , 7 days a week , every day of the year . Notable incidents . In November 2008 , the wing failed its nuclear surety inspection , given by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency . The wing again failed the inspection on 9 February 2010 . A July 2009 inspection conducted by the Air Force Audit Agency found that 48 percent of the 711 unused nuclear weapons - related materials handled by the wing were incorrectly tracked or recorded . The inspectors primarily faulted the Material Command , not the wing , for most of the discrepancies . In response to the findings , the wing moved all unused nuclear - related items to a secure storage area and performed a follow - up inventory which accounted for 100 percent of the items . The 341st failed inspection again in August 2013 . The wing received an " unsatisfactory " rating due to " tactical level errors " made during one of the many exercises during its inspection . Components . Group Missile Squadrons ( Assigned to 341st Operations Group after 1 September 1991 ) Historical Squadrons Aircraft and missiles . LGM - 30G Minuteman III Missile Alert Facilities ( MAF ) ( each controlling 10 missiles ) are located as follows :