Minot Air Force Base | |
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Part of Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC) | |
Located near: Minot, North Dakota | |
B-52H Stratofortress of the 5th Bomb Wing, departing England for home in 1999
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Location in the United States
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Coordinates | 48°24′57″N 101°21′29″W / 48.41583°N 101.35806°W |
Site information | |
Controlled by | United States Air Force |
Site history | |
Built | 1957 |
In use | 1957 – present |
Garrison information | |
Garrison |
5th Bomb Wing 91st Missile Wing |
Airfield information | |||||||||||
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Summary | |||||||||||
Elevation AMSL | 1,667 ft / 508 m | ||||||||||
Coordinates | 48°24′57″N 101°21′29″W / 48.41583°N 101.35806°WCoordinates: 48°24′57″N 101°21′29″W / 48.41583°N 101.35806°W | ||||||||||
Website | minot.af.mil | ||||||||||
Map | |||||||||||
Location of Minot Air Force Base | |||||||||||
Runways | |||||||||||
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Minot Air Force Base (IATA: MIB, ICAO: KMIB, FAA LID: MIB) is a U.S. Air Force installation in Ward County, North Dakota, 13 miles (20 km) north of the city of Minot via U.S. 83. In the 2010 census, the base was counted as a CDP with a total population of 5,521, down from 7,599 in 2000. Minot AFB is the home of two major wings: the 5th Bomb Wing and 91st Missile Wing, both of the Global Strike Command (AFGSC).
Originally opened in 1957 as an Air Defense Command (ADC) base, Minot AFB became a major Strategic Air Command (SAC) base in the early 1960s, with both nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles and manned bombers and aerial refueling aircraft. When SAC was inactivated in 1992, the nuclear mission of the base was divided between two commands, with missiles going to the Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) and manned bombers to the Air Combat Command (ACC). With the establishment of the Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC) in 2009, missiles and manned bombers (excluding the B-1 Lancer) were transferred from AFSPC and ACC to AFGSC in the late 2009 and early 2010.