The US military says it has tested an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile equipped with a reentry vehicle from a base in California across the Pacific Ocean.
Launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 1:13 a.m. local time (0813 GMT) the reentry vehicle traveled approximately 4,200 miles (6,750 kilometers) across the Pacific Ocean to the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, the Air Force Global Strike Command says in a statement.
“The test demonstrates that the United States’ nuclear deterrent is robust, flexible, ready and appropriately tailored to deter twenty-first century threats and reassure our allies,” it says.
“Test launches are not a response or reaction to world events or regional tensions,” it adds.
The US has spent decades and billions of dollars developing technologies to stop an incoming ballistic missile, and is aiming to step up those efforts.
— AFP
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From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, October 2, 2019
