Former Air Force missileers gathered at Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., earlier this week to commemorate the first launch of a Minuteman ICBM—45 years ago. The first Minuteman, launched from Complex 31, lifted off from the Cape on Feb. 1, 1961.
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall doesn’t see great value in trying to break the Sentinel ICBM program off as a separate budget item the way the Navy has with its ballistic-missile submarine program, saying such a move wouldn’t create any new money for the Air Force to spend on other…