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Posted on 05/21/2025 7:55:28 PM PDT by bitt
The US Air Force launched a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to anywhere on Earth Wednesday morning — as part of a regular test of the country’s doomsday missiles.
The Minuteman III missile was unarmed when it launched from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, the military said.
The missile traveled 15,000 miles per hour to a test site in the Marshall Islands 4,200 miles away, officials said.
The Minuteman is a 1970-era program that the Air Force plans to replace with the Sentinel system — but that program has been plagued by cutbacks and delays.
Thus, Wednesday’s launch came with a message: America’s nuclear deterrent is still ready.
“This ICBM test launch underscores the strength of the nation’s nuclear deterrent and the readiness of the ICBM leg of the triad,” Gen. Thomas Bussiere, commander of the U.S. Global Strike Command, said in a statement.
The Air Force added that the test was routine and “not a response to current world events.”
The U.S.’s “nuclear triad” comprises nuclear-armed bombers, stealthy submarines carrying Polaris nuclear ICBMs and roughly 400 land-based Minuteman III missiles.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
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SEE THE PICTURES..
Yep!
The japs have been put on notice not to bomb and invade the Marshalls.../s
After all these years still using the Marshall Islands to test bombs .
“stealthy submarines carrying Polaris nuclear ICBMs”
No
The US can now say, “We’re back!”
‘Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, speaking at a Washington, DC think tank in November 2023, explained that the [LGM-35 Sentinel]program had encountered “unknown unknowns” and was due for a “re-baseline.” He noted, “As we get more into the program, as we understand more deeply what we’re actually going to have to do, we’re finding some things that are going to cost money. There’s no question about that.”[25]’
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGM-35_Sentinel#Delays_and_overcosts
What does that mean?
Item 1:
80% of US nuclear warheads are on submarines. Understand this when looking at nice video of ICBMs or manned bombers. They aren’t very important.
Item 2:
Russia keeps only 60% of its warheads on submarines. Much of the reason is their land based missiles are mobile. They don’t have to worry as much about them. They can move a significant distance away from where they were when launches were detected, especially given US sub warheads are not huge yield. 30 miles is more than enough to survive.
“The Minuteman missiles program is a United States intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program that has been a key component of the U.S. nuclear deterrent for nearly 60 years. The program began in the late 1950s and the first Minuteman I missile was deployed in the early 1960s. Minuteman III, the current operational version, has been a vital part of the U.S. nuclear triad, alongside submarine-launched ballistic missiles and nuclear-capable bombers. “
Minuteman development began in the late 1950s — I remember them being deployed around the Nike Bases in the Chicago NW Suburbs, in the mid-1960s — bases guarded by US Special Forces Green Berets, and our BSA troop had a tour of the bases, courtesy of Gov Otto Kerner.
We’ve been testing Minuteman missiles annually since their initial deployment in the 1960’s. This is nothing new, different and certainly not worth the breathlessly dramatic headline.
..MINUTEMAN “always ready”...
They are not testing bombs at the Marshall range. They are testing the rest of the system. They do these tests almost every year and have been for many years. I was involved in three tests in the early 90s, and I distantly saw several shots years earlier when I was in high school.
Some journalist just trying to stir up some controversy and scare some people.
Do we replace the test missiles with new ones or is every test one less missile in our arsenal?
Aiming it at the Dem. National Committee building was a little harsh-—but fun.
The messages on the missile brought back memories.
This latest version of the Minuteman flying at Mach 23 to 24; which is 15,000 miles per hour.
Minuteman development began in the late 1950s — I remember them being deployed around the Nike Bases in the Chicago NW Suburbs, in the mid-1960s — bases guarded by US Special Forces Green Berets, and our BSA troop had a tour of the bases, courtesy of Gov Otto Kerner.
______
Minuteman ICBMs were never deployed around Nike bases in the Chicago suburbs.
Do we replace the test missiles with new ones or is every test one less missile in our arsenal?
_______
Back when, there were 1,000 Minuteman ICBMs deployed at 6 missile wings. Now, there are 400 deployed at 3 missile wings. Follow on testing pulls one from those currently deployed and is backfilled with a spare.
“What does that mean?”
It means nothing. Which was intentional. It was not so much couched in euphemism as it was lost between the cushions of that couch.
CC
Situation normal...
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