The United States successfully tested a longrange nuclearcapable ballistic missile on Tuesday after delaying launch twice to avoid tensions over Ukraine and Taiwan, the US Air Force said.
The United States Air Force Global Strike Command launched the unloaded Minuteman 3rd ICBM over the Pacific Ocean from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, just after midnight local time.
This missile carried a test reentry vehicle that could be armed with a nuclear warhead in a strategic conflict.
The vehicle traveled approximately 6,760 km to Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands in the western Pacific.
“This test launch is part of routine and regular activities designed to demonstrate the United States’ nuclear deterrent is safe, reliable and effective,” the Air Force said in a statement.
“We have conducted over 300 tests of this type and this test is not a result of current world events,” he stressed.
The test was originally scheduled for March but was postponed to avoid raising tensions Russian invasion of Ukrainepublished on February 24th.
It was suspended a second time in early August as military tensions escalated over China’s multiple launches of ballistic missiles and drills in response to a visit to Taiwan by leading US House Democrat Nancy Pelosi.