Peacekeeper nuclear missile officially deactivated

Soldiers, civilians and officials participated in a ceremony at F.E. Warren Air Force Base to officially deactivate the Peacekeeper nuclear missile.

More than 200 people watched Monday as the last piece of a Peacekeeper was driven down the road at F.E. Warren, commemorating its retirement from the base's missile fields.

F.E. Warren oversaw the only squadron of 50 Peacekeepers deployed in the United States. Each 71-foot ( 21.3-meter)-tall, 8-foot ( 2.4-meter)-diameter missile carried 10 warheads.

The United States began removing the Peacekeeper from its intercontinental ballistic missile arsenal in 2002 after it determined the weapons were no longer needed with the end of the Cold War and the demise of the Soviet Union.

The missiles, also known as the MX, were taken out one by one, stage by stage, and retired.

Ronald Sega, undersecretary of the Air Force, congratulated those who had worked with the missile system.

"The Cold War was won, and the Peacekeeper helped win it," he said, AP reported.