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HILL AIR FORCE BASE — Residents near the West Desert heard loud booms Monday as the Air Force routinely detonated two rocket motors there.
The Air Force detonated two first-stage Trident I ballistic missile rocket motors — one at 11:39 a.m. and a second at 1:12 p.m. — at the Utah Test and Training Range in the West Desert, the Air Force said in a release.
The detonations are part of the START treaties, under which the United States is disposing of ballistic missiles in its possession. To date, more than a million pounds of missile motor propellant has been destroyed at the test range, said Glenn Palmer, Hill Air Force Base's air quality program manager. Between April and October, detonations are performed at the range two or three times a week.
"The UTTR has played a key role in disposing of the nation's missile motor inventory for more than 20 years and is the only location in the United States capable of destroying these missile motors,” Palmer said.
The warhead is not destroyed at Utah’s test range and nuclear materials are not involved in the detonation, the Air Force said.
The Air Force takes into account environmental factors before detonation so that it may reduce the sound impact on residents, but Palmer said the measurements may not always be accurate.
"Because of the variability of upper atmospheric weather conditions this time of year, the sound model may not accurately predict sound levels along the Wasatch Front," Palmer said.
