U.S. Minuteman III Missile with Three Nuclear-capable Warheads Travels 4200 Miles

The U.S. Space Force launched a Minuteman III missile yesterday in an important test of the weapon’s ability to strike its targets with multiple warheads.

After blasting out of a silo at the launch facility on the north side of this base on the California coast the Minuteman III missile landed the three test reentry vehicles—one high-fidelity Joint Test Assembly, which carries non-nuclear explosives, and two telemetry Joint Test Assembly objects—struck the Reagan Test Site near the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands roughly 30 minutes later after launch, a flight of about 4,200 miles, Air and Space Forces magazine reported.

The ICBM test was controlled by an airborne command post in a test of the U.S. ability to launch its nuclear deterrent from a survivable platform.

Gen. Thomas A. Bussiere, the commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, said in a release. “An airborne launch validates the survivability of our ICBMs, which serve as the strategic backstop of our nation’s defense and defense of allies and partners.”

The Minuteman III launch came a week after North Korea tested its 1500 km range ICBM ratcheting up nuclear threat to the Western World.