The number of silos containing Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles in the North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming missile fields has been reduced to meet the New START requirements.

START stands for Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.

According to Air Force Global Strike Command information:

— There are a total of 450 launch facilities (silos) with 150 at each of the three operating missile wings at Minot Air Force Base, Malmstrom AFB, Montana, and F.E. Warren AFB, Wyoming.

— There are also four test facilities at Vandenberg AFB, California.

To meet the New START requirements there are a total of 50 empty or nondeployed launch facilities spread between the three wings/bases.

— Minot AFB and Malmstrom AFB each have 17 empty silos and 133 active in their missile fields.

— F.E. Warren AFB has 16 empty silos and 134 active.

For example, 150 Minuteman III silos are maintained at Minot with 17 of them in a non-deployed status, meaning there isn’t a missile in it, allowing for rotating the silos used and further enabling ability to conduct maintenance and upgrades to the silo without impacting operational capabilities, an Air Force Global Strike Command official told the Minot Daily News for a story earlier this year.

At Minot AFB, the 91st Missile Wing, a unit of Air Force Global Strike Command, oversees the Minot missile field.

The numbers change due to the monthly scheduled maintenance.

New START is the nuclear arms reduction treaty between the United States and Russian Federation. Then-President Barack Obama and then-Russian President and now Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed the treaty in April 2010 in Prague. The treaty went into effect Feb. 5, 2011, and is expected to last until 2021. Both nations are to comply with the reduction in nuclear arms by February 2018.