The project will provide a dedicated training hub for the crews responsible for operating and maintaining America’s next generation of land-based nuclear deterrence. It will house the Sentinel ICBM Formal Training Unit under Second Air Force and Air Education and Training Command.
Missile operators will receive their initial skills training at the site, while maintainers will complete advanced technical instruction for the new weapon system. The building is intended to support the workforce transition from the Minuteman III as Sentinel sites enter service and legacy facilities are deactivated.
Lieutenant Colonel Suzy Lamar, commander of the Vandenberg-based Sentinel Task Force Detachment 9, said the project would help turn the planned transition into an operational one. “Our task force is sharply focused on ensuring a seamless, coordinated site transition from the Minuteman III to Sentinel, and capitalizing on the physical progress we see here today is essential to making that operational shift a reality.”
The Sentinel Task Force was activated at Vandenberg in March 2025 to oversee local transition planning and integration. It coordinates the daily work required to retire Minuteman III operational sites and deploy the Sentinel system efficiently.
Vandenberg has supported missile training and testing since the early years of the U.S. missile program. Space Force Colonel James Horne III, commander of Space Launch Delta 30, said: “Vandenberg was established as a missile training and test base nearly seven decades ago during the first missile age. Today, we are preparing to train the force that will lead us into the Sentinel era.”
The training center is also part of a wider expansion of Vandenberg’s infrastructure for missile testing, space training and launch operations. The work is intended to increase the base’s capacity and provide mission partners with the support needed to operate from the Western Test Range.
Inside the new facility, operator and maintenance training will be brought together under one roof. The Air Force expects that consolidation to eliminate student travel between locations, improve daily collaboration and integrate classroom instruction with laboratory work.
Lieutenant Colonel Luke Oman, commander of the 532nd Training Squadron, said the center would change how the service prepares personnel for the nuclear mission. “This highly digital, modernized infrastructure ensures that Second Air Force is delivering combat-ready Airmen who are fully prepared to operate and maintain the Sentinel system on day one.”
The August 17 groundbreaking brought together military commanders, Sentinel program officials, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, construction representatives and local civic leaders. Participants formally started work by turning the first soil at the construction site.
