Posted on 04/27/2018 6:24:27 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
US Air Force tests Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile
The U.S. Air Force on Wednesday test launched an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, officials said.
According to a statement from Air Force Global Strike Command, the missile took off at 5:26 am (12:26 GMT) and was successful.
“A reliable test launch occurs when a test missile launches, completes its flight path within a designated safety corridor, the equipment functions properly, sensor data is collected, and the test reentry vehicle impacts where targeted,” the statement read.
“Though the reentry vehicle reached its intended target, the test and analysis data is not releasable to the public.”
Minuteman ICBMs are regularly tested with launches from Vandenberg that send unarmed re-entry vehicles to a target area in the middle of the Pacific to check the readiness, effectiveness and accuracy of the weapons system.
(Excerpt) Read more at thedefensepost.com ...
When Iran is finally nuked, it should come as a total surprise.
This was a routine Follow On Test & Evaluation (FOT&E, commonly called “Foot”) shot. It had been delayed for certain reasons so notification was shorter than normal. Also, they are all targeted at the test rage at the Kwajalein Atoll. Kwajalein has all the special radars and sensors to score the accuracy of the Re-entry Vehicle.
It seems to me that the press release on test launches always mention this location, even if it is common knowledge to everybody in the know. Is there another location where the missile from a test launch could head for?
Kwajalein Atoll has been nuked more times than Stormy Daniels.
I worked with a girl that grew up there as a child, (parents were civilians employed by the Air Force) - it was a story of a fascinating childhood.
Nope. The Kwaj was set up as the target site for our ICBM tests decades ago. It has all the sensor equipment (lots of it and very expensive) to track and score the incoming. It also is of a sufficient range to be able to really test the accuracy at the proper distances.
There is no need to duplicate the expense, time, and personnel necessary as the Kwaj fits the bill perfectly.
A soldier in my fire direction center had a similar story because his dad was also a downrange Tech. Said it was a beautiful and isolated location.
Both the Minuteman III and the Trident D5 have perfect records.
Our adversaries are well aware of that.
The US can put 1500, 100KT or bigger, warheads on target...within 100 meters CEP...in 40 minutes from the “GO” message.
And over 99% reliability.
To boot, our MEECN network is redundant in dozens of ways and you cannot prevent the message from arriving.
China on the other hand has only about 50 warheads that can reach us.
And Russia....estimates are 50% reliability on the same number of warheads. But their speed to launch and C3 are far inferior.
Only the US has reliable CounterForce.
No, I have never been there but I was involved in sending missiles there and was honored to be selected as one of the three Combat Crews to turn keys and launch one there. Our team (Ops and Maintenance) did so well one of our three targets was a water tower and we hit the base and toppled it.
I was a telemetry site chief and Principle telemetry specialist there. Fun place to live.
The facility is part of the Defense Major Range and Test Facility Base. They provide range instrumentation, missile launch facilities, mission control center, range safety, meteorological support, and support space operations. As of 2015, the facility’s budget was US$182 million. The site hosts a suite of unique instrumentation, located on eight islands throughout the Kwajalein Atoll. This instrumentation includes a comprehensive suite of precision metric and signature radars, optical sensors, telemetry receiving stations, and impact scoring assets. RTS provides both mobile and fixed ground and flight safety instrumentation.[1] The Pentagon lease for the islands of the Kwajalein Atoll extends through 2066.[2]
Equipment installed at the test site includes various tracking radars, stationary and mobile telemetry, optical recording equipment and a secure fiberoptic data network via the HANTRU-1 undersea cable. The Reagan Test Site also serves as a tracking station for manned space flight and NASA research projects.
Launch activities at the test site include ballistic missile tests, ABM interception tests, meteorological sounding rockets, and a commercial spaceport for SpaceX at Omelek Island.
A wakeup call to all of the bad actors in the world.
I love reading your ICBM posts
“Kwajalein Atoll.”
Home of the best steak dinner in the Pacific theater. And cheap beer that flows endlessly.
The Visiting Airmen Quarters are top notch too, and you can see first run movies in the open air theater.
They had to extend the atoll by dredging to fit a runway.
Landed there one STORMY night with just vapor as fuel with a 70kt cross wind. Kissed the tarmac when I stepped off the ladder.
There was simply no where else to go.
Literally a thousand miles from nowhere.
See my #19.
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