Air Force and Navy service members aboard an airplane on Tuesday remotely launched a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile with three unarmed warheads from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
“A joint team of Air Force Global Strike Command Airmen and Navy sailors launched an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile equipped with three test reentry vehicles from aboard the Airborne Launch Control System at 12:21 a.m. Pacific Time Aug. 4,” according to an announcement from Air Force Global Strike Command. The Airborne Launch Control System is a Navy-owned Boeing E-6 aircraft.
According to the statement, members of the Air Force’s 625th Strategic Operations Squadron, based in Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., launched the test warheads on a 4,200-mile parabolic ride to the Kwajalein Atoll.
The Air Force’s Vandenberg-based 567 Flight Test Squadron also supported the launch, standing in for the 90th Missile Wing, members of which were not permitted to travel to California from F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming due to “current COVID-19 travel restrictions,” the service stated.
Due to restrictions of the U.S.-Russian New START nuclear-arms control treaty, the United States does not deploy Minuteman III missiles with more than one warhead. However, the Air Force can load a Minuteman III with multiple W78 warheads, and would be free to legally do so,if the treaty lapses after February 2021. To prevent that, the U.S. and Russian presidents must agree to a five-year extension before then.
The services launched the missiles only days before the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, in the final days of World War II. Test launches are typically scheduled months ahead of time, taking into consideration the needs of the programs for which missiles and related systems are tested, and the requirements of other range users, would could be other military branches, or civilian agencies conducting space launches with time-sensitive windows.
