In an act of nuclear readiness, the U.S. Air Force launched an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile early on Wednesday morning from a base in California.
A Pentagon spokesman said the launch was a long-planned test prior to the launch.
However, a number of recent tests have been put on hold out of concern for a deterioration in relations with Russia and China, who are at war in Ukraine and have increased their military activity around Taiwan.
According to the base’s Twitter account, the test was launched at 1:13 a.m. from the Californian Vandenberg Space Force Base, about 60 miles north of Santa Barbara.
According to Farrah Kaufmann, a base spokesperson, the ICBM was fitted with three test reentry vehicles and travelled 4,200 miles at a speed of more than 15,000 miles per hour to a test range at the Kwajalein Atoll near the Marshall Islands.
The launch was announced by the Pentagon a day beforehand.
According to the terms of the agreement, Russia had been informed, he continued.
He continued, “The goal of the ICBM test launch programme is to show the readiness of US nuclear forces and to instil confidence in the safety and efficacy of the country’s nuclear deterrent.”
A crucial component of the strategic arsenal of the American military is the Minuteman III.
The nuclear-capable missile can travel at speeds of up to 15,000 mph over a range of more than 6,000 miles.
The Colonial Minutemen of the American Revolutionary War, who were prepared to fight at a moment’s notice, were the inspiration for the name of the original Minuteman, which underwent development in the 1950s.
Last month, a test was postponed after China sent out dozens of planes and fired missiles toward Taiwan as a show of force in response to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit.
President Joe Biden made the decision to delay, according to White House security spokesman John Kirby at the time.
In contrast to China’s destabilising military drills near Taiwan, he claimed, “the United States is acting like a responsible nuclear power by lowering the risks of miscalculation and misperception.”
Republicans were enraged by this and claimed that the White House was caving in to Xi Jinping’s tantrums.
According to Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), the committee’s top Republican, “These weak-kneed pearl-clutching efforts at appeasement undermine our preparedness and will only encourage increased aggression by our enemies.”
After a 12-day delay, the test was finally carried out.
Officials verified that the re-entry vehicle for the Minuteman III flew 4,200 miles from Vandenberg Space Force Base in the Santa Barbara region of California to Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
Nuclear missile Minuteman III with a $7 million warhead capable of travelling 15,000 mph for 6,000 miles.
Along with the Trident SLBM and the nuclear bombs carried by long-range strategic bombers, the Minuteman III is one of three land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) that make up the United States’ nuclear trinity.
It is a strategic armament system that employs an intercontinental ballistic missile. To defend themselves from assault, missiles are scattered across fortified silos and linked to a launch control centre below by a network of reinforced cables.
The 6,000-mile, 15,000-mph Minuteman III costs $7,000,000 and weighs 79,432 pounds.
The missile, which was called after the Colonial Minutemen of the American Revolutionary War because they could mobilise quickly to combat, was first developed in the 1950s.
As a deterrent weapon with the capacity to strike Soviet cities, the Minuteman entered service in 1962. In 1965, the Minuteman-II entered service with a number of improvements to its accuracy and resistance to anti-ballistic missile (AMB) systems.
The Minuteman-III was the first deployed ICBM to use MIRVs, or multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles, which consisted of three smaller warheads that enhanced the missile’s capacity to penetrate AMB defences.
1,000 Minuteman missiles were deployed by 1970 during the Cold War, but by 2017, the number had decreased to 400 and were located in missile silos in Malmstrom AFB in Montana, Minot AFB in North Dakota, and F.E. Warren AFB in Wyoming.
Minuteman will gradually be replaced starting in 2027 by the new Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) ICBM that Northrop Grumman will be developing.