Posted on 08/20/2022 8:41:39 PM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
Air Force Global Strike Command test-launched an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile Aug. 16, several days after delaying the test to avoid stoking tensions with China.
The launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., took place at 12:49 a.m. Pacific time. The ICBM reentry vehicle traveled approximately 4,200 miles to the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, AFGSC announced in a press release.
Airmen from the 625th Strategic Operations Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., and Sailors from the Navy’s Strategic Communications Wing executed the launch on board a Navy E-6B Mercury aircraft using the Airborne Launch Control System.
Airmen from the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., 90th Missile Wing at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo., and 91st Missile Wing at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., helped support the test launch, while the Space Force’s Col. Bryan Titus, vice commander of Space Launch Delta 30, was the launch decision authority.
“This scheduled test launch is demonstrative of how our nation’s ICBM fleet illustrates our readiness and reliability of the weapon system. It is also a great platform to show the skill sets and expertise of our strategic weapons maintenance personnel and of our missile crews who maintain an unwavering vigilance to defend the homeland,” Col. Chris Cruise, 576th Flight Test Squadron Commander, said in a statement.
AFGSC emphasized in its release that the test launch “is not the result of current world events,” and in a separate release, Space Launch Delta 30 indicated that the launch had been scheduled years in advance.
That schedule shifted slightly, however, when Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), led a Congressional delegation on a visit to Taiwan in early August.
That visit, the first by a Speaker to the island in 25 years, drew a fiery response from China, which considers Taiwan a rogue province and rightfully its territory. The Chinese launched military exercises all around the island. U.S. President Joe Biden, seeking to avoid escalating tensions, announced Aug. 4 that the Minuteman III test would be delayed.
China is still conducting military exercises around Taiwan after another U.S. congressional delegation visited the island, but the Minuteman III test took place 12 days after the initial postponement.
That stands in contrast to earlier this year, when the Pentagon first delayed, then canceled, an ICBM test entirely to avoid potential miscommunication and escalation. In March, the Defense Department postponed a test in the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as Russian President Vladimir Putin raised tensions by putting his nuclear forces on high alert. In April, the Air Force announced that the test had been canceled.
The last publicly announced test launch was in August 2021.
This is required by law. Every couple of years a test of the Minuteman system is required to establish that the system is working and still represents an effective deterrent force.
Had to reread the headline a couple of times to be sure it read “TEST launches” and not “TEXT launches”!
Re-entry vehicle, also known as “The Bomb”.
By law? or by policy. I was in the 394th ICBMTMS at Vandenberg and we routinely did test launches like this. It was a SAC policy to demonstrate that the Minuteman weapon system effectiveness met reliability standards.
Perhaps you can cite the "law" that requires this.
The re-entry vehicle actually contains the bomb in a package designed to survive the stresses of the re-entry.
In test launch cases, the re-entry vehicle contains a test package that simulates a payload.
Unfortunately, we’re only testing half the system. It’s nice to know the missiles will launch and accurately reach their targets, but without testing the warheads once in a while it’s hard to know whether they will still go “boom” when they arrive. The age of the warheads, and the lack of testing for decades now, is a serious concern.
wish they would stop using the term “homeland”...very annoying.
"Alright, I tell you what you better do, old buddy. [slaps his belly] You better give Elmo and Charlie a blast, and bump everything up to condition red and stand by the blower, I'll get back to you."
One big consideration is that Clinton shut down the production of the tritium that is used in the warheads. As the half life of tritium is about 12 years the amount available for fusion has dropped quite a bit. Don’t know if this was reversed by GWB or Trump.
“ several days after delaying the test to avoid stoking tensions with China”
If they cared about offending China they would have put a bag over crazy Nancy’s face
Did General Dingdong call the chicoms and get permission to fire?
[In test launch cases, the re-entry vehicle contains a test package that simulates a payload.]
You don’t mean Nancy Pelosi do you?
I know, they’re also called RV’s.
Here’s a video about a guy that operated cameras at Vandenburg, saying a UFO shot down a test warhead:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vtopkywm1AU
Anyone been to Vandenberg lately? I want to go see a launch. I saw they have a sheet and trap range. Nice beaches?
Did you mean SKEET and trap range? Asking for a friend. Thanx.
Lol!! Oh my god, thanks for pointing that out. Sheet and trap might be funny though.
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