#tests #ICBM #delays #linked #Ukraine #China
The United States successfully tested a long-range nuclear-capable ballistic missile on Tuesday after twice delaying the launch to avoid stoking tensions over Ukraine and Taiwan, the Air Force said.
Air Force Global Strike Command launched the Minuteman III unarmed ICBM over the Pacific Ocean just after midnight local time from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California.
The missile carried a test reentry vehicle that could be armed with a nuclear warhead in a strategic conflict.
The reentry vehicle traveled approximately 4,200 miles (6,760 kilometers) to Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands in the western Pacific.
“This test launch is part of routine and regular activities designed to demonstrate the United States’ nuclear deterrent is safe, reliable and effective,” the Air Force said in a statement.
“Such tests have occurred more than 300 times before, and this test is not the result of current world events.”
The test was originally scheduled for March but was postponed to avoid escalating tensions over Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine.
It was postponed a second time in early August amid rising military tensions over China’s multiple ballistic missile test launches and sharp drills in response to senior US Congressman Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.
“While China engages in destabilizing military exercises around Taiwan, the United States is instead demonstrating the behavior of a responsible nuclear power by reducing the risk of miscalculation and miscalculation,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby explained at the time of the postponement .
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