Pretty cool.
Posted on 02/26/2016 9:32:52 PM PST by MtnClimber
The U.S. military test-fired its second intercontinental ballistic missile in a week on Thursday night, seeking to demonstrate its nuclear arms capacity at a time of rising strategic tensions with Russia and North Korea.
The unarmed Minuteman III missile roared out of a silo at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California late at night, raced across the sky at speeds of up to 15,000 mph (24,000 kph) and landed a half hour later in a target area 4,200 miles (6,500 km) away near Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands of the South Pacific.
Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work, who witnessed the launch, said the U.S. tests, conducted at least 15 times since January 2011, send a message to strategic rivals like Russia, China and North Korea that Washington has an effective nuclear arsenal.
"That's exactly why we do this," Work told reporters before the launch.
"We and the Russians and the Chinese routinely do test shots to prove that the operational missiles that we have are reliable. And that is a signal ... that we are prepared to use nuclear weapons in defense of our country if necessary."
Demonstrating the reliability of the nuclear force has taken on additional importance recently because the U.S. arsenal is near the end of its useful life and a spate of scandals in the nuclear force two years ago raised readiness questions.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Nuclear forces at end of life. Seems like an 0bama plan.
Or did access to her emails & other hacking exploits unknown to us, allow our enemies to find out that our nuclear triad is shooting blanks?
I mean, I don't remember constant test firing of Minutemen missiles under Reagan to send a message...
The DPRK and Russia are not afraid of Obama or Clinton.
Pretty cool.
like threatening to nuke Russia and etcetera... is supposed to accomplish just exactly what for America? just curious...
(they already know we still got some nukes.. at least I think we do, O hasn’t been able to dismantle them all yet... )
Our nuclear arsenal is NOT at the end of its life or even at the middle of its life. It is alive and well..... Presstitute David Alexander is a liar. Joint Test Assemblies JTA’s are test warheads routinely tested by throwing em at the atoll’s of Kwajalein to check all systems used for all current inventory. These tests provide real world launches from both land base silos and submarines. Crews are drawn at random to prepare, load, fire etc... a few months ago we saw a sub launch at night that freaked out the west coast. Routine.... keeps the crews frosty and tells the bad guys merica ain’t messing around.
Stay Safe !
I imagine so!
Rat Namur ...... EOD Resort !
We’ll meet again, don’t know where, don’t know when.
Pathetic sign of impotence.
He’s getting ready for the end...of his term?
The implications were sobering to me.
The implications were sobering to me.
Clinton (and most of his Admin) should have been tried for Treason long ago.
The left hates the USA and will sell us out when given the chance.
Back during the Reagan administration each Minuteman wing, there were six at that time, launched one or two missiles per year. These tests are called Follow On Test & Evaluation, FOT&E, shots. The FOT&E program has been doing this from the time the missiles first went on Alert through today.
oh great! yet another recruitment tool for isis! /sarc
Not mentioned in the article is that the missile used in the FOT&E program is randomly drawn from one on active operational alert which is then back filled with a replacement. It is transported to Vandenberg, equipped with telemetry, etc., and launched from a test silo. Operations, maintenance, munitions and others all get enhanced realistic training.
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