The U.S. Air Force on Wednesday launched an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California as a test of the accuracy and reliability of the weapon system, a key component of the U.S. nuclear deterrent.
Airmen from the Global Strike Command’s 90th Missile Wing, based at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming, launched the ICBM, which featured a single test re-entry vehicle containing a telemetry package for operational testing, the service said. The missile traveled roughly 4,200 miles to the Marshall Islands.
The ICBM test launch was the service’s fourth this year.
The Air Force said in an announcement that the test was “not a response to recent North Korean actions,” even though the regime last Friday launched its own ICBM, which came down into the Sea of Japan. The country has also conducted several underground nuclear detonations over the past year, the last of which occurred in September 2016.
Experts and U.S. officials have for years remained concerned about the country’s nuclear ambitions. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said last week in a statement that the United States “seeks the peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” and “will never accept a nuclear-armed North Korea nor abandon our commitment to our allies and partners in the region.”
The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has invited Energy Department and National Nuclear Security Administration leadership to speak at a public hearing Sept. 13 on the status of emergency management across defense nuclear facilities.
The hearing, to be held at the DNFSB’s Washington, D.C., headquarters, will allow DOE officials to make prepared remarks on the department’s improvements to complex-wide emergency management, as well as answer questions from board members.
Letters of invitation were sent July 27 to Rick Perry, secretary of energy; Frank Klotz, NNSA administrator; Eric Smith, the NNSA’s acting associate administrator for emergency operations; James McConnell, the NNSA’s associate administrator for safety, infrastructure, and operations; James Hutton, DOE Environmental Management’s deputy assistant secretary for safety, security, and quality assurance; James Owendoff, acting assistant secretary for environmental management; and Glenn Podonsky, director of the Office of Enterprise Assessments.
The hearing will focus on the DOE and NNSA’s progress in addressing prior DNFSB recommendations to improve the complex-wide training and drill program for emergency response personnel; conduct exercises that ensure proper response for severe events; and update directives on the reliability of emergency response facilities and equipment, training criteria, and vulnerabilities to the program, as identified during independent assessments.
The NNSA intends to issue a sole source contract award for .45 caliber Smith & Wesson handguns, according to a solicitation posted last week.
The handguns will replace the NNSA Office of Secure Transportation’s aging inventory of pistols, which “are showing signs of excessive wear and now have a limited serviceable life remaining,” the notice said. This new acquisition features similar firearms specifications, which are available on FedConnect.net.
Proposals and quotations from prospective bidders were due Monday. The NNSA anticipates issuing an award by Sept. 30.
From The Wires
From the Center for Public Integrity: U.S. nuclear arms contractors over the last half-decade have improperly packaged or shipped plutonium and other dangerous materials, records show.
