In an effort to comply with START I provisions and finish its destruction timetable by November 2001, the United States imploded the first of 150 Minuteman III ballistic missile silos in North Dakota on October 6.
The $12.1 million project, under the direction of the Air Force and the Army Corps of Engineers, will destroy only the 150 silos necessary for compliance with the treaty; 150 other sites remain "in service" in North Dakota, according to an Air Force official.
The last Minuteman III missile was removed from the silos slated for implosion in June 1998 after being taken off alert in 1995. Destruction of all the silos is estimated to take two years.