WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The United States launched a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile on Thursday, marking the second such test in a week, the Vandenberg Space Force Base said.
Minuteman III is a US Cold War-era intercontinental ballistic missile deployed in the 1970s. According to public data, the United States has about 400 Minuteman III ICBMs armed with a single warhead each. In 2015, the US nuclear arsenal underwent expensive modernization that prolonged Minuteman III’s service to the 2030s.
“An unarmed Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile launches during an operational test at 1:46 a.m. Pacific Time 6 June, 2024, at Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif. ICBM test launches demonstrate that the U.S. ICBM fleet is ready, reliable and effective in leveraging dominance in an era of strategic competition,” the statement said.
Earlier, experts explained to Sputnik that recent Minuteman III launchesare a regular audit of the strategic forces rather than nuclear saber-rattling.
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