A Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile launched from an air base in California in August 2017. – US Air Force / SIPA
The United States announced on Wednesday the failure of a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test on take-off, specifying that the missile was unarmed and that an investigation was underway to discover the cause of the dysfunction.
The US military plans to retry this test firing, the US Air Force said in a statement.
Reassure Washington’s allies
The missile was scheduled to be launched early Wednesday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., For a test the U.S. Air Force regularly performs to demonstrate the effectiveness of U.S. nuclear deterrence and reassure allies of Washington.
It was announced Monday in a tweet from the command of the American strike force. The press release does not specify where it was to crash, but the missiles tested are generally fired in the direction of the Marshall Islands, and are damaged at sea.
A single land launcher
In service for fifty years, Minuteman III is the only land-based missile in the nuclear arsenal of the United States since 2005. It is installed in launch silos distributed over three US military bases in Wyoming, North Dakota and Montana.
The US nuclear arsenal also includes Trident missiles, launched from the sea and deployed on US submarines, and nuclear bombs carried by strategic bombers.
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