The missile was fired at from Vandenberg Air Base to test its reliability and accuracy. It was configured with a National Nuclear Security Administration test assembly.
The Minuteman III carried three unarmed re-entry vehicles to targets 4,190 miles away, near the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, in speeds of more than 24,000 miles per hour.
“These are dangerous times we’re living in right now,” Lt. Col. Lesa Toler, 576th Flight Test Squadron commander and mission director for the test launch, said in a statement.
“It’s extremely important our combatant commander has the capabilities he needs to perform the mission of fighting and winning our nation’s wars. Testing an operational asset pulled from the missile field at Minot provides us confidence our weapon system is capable of performing when needed.”
The Air Force, which plans to submit information from the test to the U. S. Strategic Command and the Energy Department, launched the missile as the Pentagon bolsters defense systems in Hawaii against North Korean threats.
