WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th February, 2021) The United States launched an unarmed nuclear-capable ballistic missile, the Minuteman III, equipped with a test re-entry vehicle, the Air Force said Wednesday.
"The test demonstrates that the United States' nuclear deterrent is safe, secure, reliable and effective to deter twenty-first century threats and reassure our allies," the Air Force said in a press release.
During the test, the re-entry vehicle traveled approximately 4,200 miles from the launch site at California's Vandenberg Air Force Base to the to the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, the Air Force said.
The US conducts periodic test launches to test the accuracy and reliability of its intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) system.
The Air Force said that planning for each ICBM test flight begins three- to five-years in advance and that launches are not a response or reaction to world events or regional tensions.
