The US Air Force launched a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to anywhere on Earth Wednesday morning — as part of a regular test of the country’s doomsday missiles.
The Minuteman III missile was unarmed when it launched from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, the military said.
The missile traveled 15,000 miles per hour to a test site in the Marshall Islands 4,200 miles away, officials said.
The Minuteman is a 1970-era program that the Air Force plans to replace with the Sentinel system — but that program has been plagued by cutbacks and delays.
Thus, Wednesday’s launch came with a message: America’s nuclear deterrent is still ready.
“This ICBM test launch underscores the strength of the nation’s nuclear deterrent and the readiness of the ICBM leg of the triad,” Gen. Thomas Bussiere, commander of the U.S. Global Strike Command, said in a statement.
The Air Force added that the test was routine and “not a response to current world events.”
The U.S.’s “nuclear triad” comprises nuclear-armed bombers, stealthy submarines carrying Polaris nuclear ICBMs and roughly 400 land-based Minuteman III missiles.
The Air Force had planned to decommission all of its Cold War-era missiles by 2039, but the Sentinel hasn’t even been fully tested yet, and delays in the program could push the transition date to at least 2050, according to Bloomberg.
Yet the Air Force insisted the Sentinel program is on track, adding that “until full capability is achieved, the Air Force is committed to ensuring Minuteman III remains a viable deterrent.”
