Air Force Explores Reactivating Montana Missile Field for Sentinel Project

Nuclear silos spanning an area roughly the size of Rhode Island are drawing a hard look from the Air Force as the $140 billion Sentinel project searches for room to grow.

The Air Force is exploring the reactivation of a north-central Montana missile field. The footprint under review includes 50 missile sites that once belonged to the 564th Missile Squadron between Dutton and Shelby.

Those silos were officially deactivated in 2008 as part of the New START Treaty with Russia to pare down nuclear arsenals. Crews pulled out equipment back then and filled the concrete tubes with dirt and gravel.

Now, the proposed return of the 564th sits inside a supplemental environmental impact statement currently being built by the Air Force. That document is not expected to cross the finish line until the spring of 2028.

View of missoula from mount sentinel in missoula montana

The Sentinel missile, built by Northrop Grumman to replace the aging Minuteman, has faced a winding path since its inception. A government review was ordered in 2024 after project costs grew by 81%.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office said earlier this year that the current fleet of Minuteman III missiles could remain on alert through 2050. That timeline stretches 14 years longer than initially planned.

Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls remains central to the operational network. It hosts the largest of the three missile wings and has kept the Minuteman fleet on alert continuously since 1962, managing 150 active silos across rural central Montana. The other two wings operate out of F.E. Warren Air Force Base near Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota.

Trail and flowers on mount sentinel in missoula montana

Even though the Department of Defense kept ownership of the deactivated Montana sites, the land around them often sits idle. Crews have recently been spotted taking soil samples and conducting land surveys across the footprint, according to Pondera County Commissioner Tom Kuka.

Locals are not anticipating an economic windfall from land transactions if the military builds on property it already owns. Taylor Barnes, a defense journalist for Inkstick Media who visited the area this fall using a 1980s anti-nuke guidebook, found that residents viewed the nuclear presence as a quiet background detail.

“They also said in their day-to-day lives, it didn’t matter much,” Barnes said. “They said when the military deactivated the field, they didn’t really care.”

Instead of defense work, farmers and ranchers have shown more commercial curiosity in wind farms or solar panel developments that offer steady lease payments. Still, the military’s physical footprint brings distinct infrastructure benefits to the county.

Pondera County commissioners pointed to the heavy gravel roads maintained for missile site access. Those routes often provide smoother transit than typical rural county roads.

“My goodness, that road is fantastic when you get to where the missile is,” Jim Morren said.

The scope of the Sentinel rollout has shifted significantly over time. During a 2025 town hall meeting, Air Force representatives walked back earlier workforce projections that anticipated 3,000 workers concentrated around Great Falls and Lewistown. Planners also pivoted away from retrofitting original silos toward digging new ones due to mounting engineering hurdles.

Why the Air Force Fences 150 Nuclear Missiles Beside Montana Roads — Restricted America

The supplemental environmental impact statement considers acquiring land for up to 30 new launch sites in Montana as part of roughly 120 new sites proposed across all three missile fields. Retrofitting existing infrastructure proved too risky for the program’s budget and timeline.

Political shifts will likely continue to shape the program. The New START Treaty that emptied the 564th field expired in February 2026, leaving future international agreements up in the air.

“These missiles in the past have been undone by shifting political currents,” said Barnes, the defense journalist.

President George H.W. Bush took hundreds of nuclear weapons off alert in 1991 under the first Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, removing 150 missiles from their silos. As the Sentinel project presses forward across multiple presidential administrations, the 564th field stands ready for its next chapter.

Keep reading