US test-launches nuclear ballistic missile on election day

The exercise was part of “routine and periodic activities,” the American military has said

The American military conducted a nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test on the day that the nation’s voters were choosing their next president, the US Air Force Global Strike Command said in a statement on Wednesday. The launch was part of “routine” practice and followed “months of preparation,” it added.

An unarmed Minuteman III ICBM was launched from the US Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, at 11:01pm Pacific Time on November 5, the statement said. The missile traveled some 4,200 miles (6,759km) to the US Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site located at the Kwajalein Atoll within the Pacific territory of the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

The test launch was intended to demonstrate that the US nuclear deterrent “is safe, secure, reliable and effective to deter 21st century threats and reassure our allies,” the command stated, adding that 300 similar launches had previously been conducted. The US military also denied that the move was in any way linked to “current world events.”

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“An airborne launch validates the survivability of our ICBMs, which serve as the strategic backstop of our nation’s defense and defense of allies and partners,” said General Thomas A. Bussiere, a commander with the US Air Force Global Strike Command.

Minuteman III is America’s only silo-based ICBM. According to the US Air Force, it has a total of 400 such missiles and three missile wings that operate them: the 90th Missile Wing in Wyoming, the 91th in North Dakota, and the 341st in Montana.

First deployed back in 1970, these missiles can travel a distance of more than 6,000 miles (9,656km) at a maximum speed of 24,000kph or 23 times faster than the speed of sound.

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According to some media reports, Washington had warned Moscow in advance about the missile test launch.

In late October, Russia conducted a strategic nuclear deterrence exercise of its own. The drill involved ballistic and cruise missile launches. At the time, President Vladimir Putin said Moscow was seeking to maintain its nuclear forces at the “necessarily sufficient” level, but it does not intend to be dragged into a new arms race. According to the Kremlin, “relevant countries” were notified about it as well. 

The Russian nuclear drill came shortly after NATO’s ‘Steadfast Noon’ exercises, which kicked off in Western Europe in mid-October involving 13 members of the US-led military bloc. European NATO members were training to deploy US-provided weapons under the organization’s nuclear-sharing arrangement. Moscow has repeatedly stated that the bloc’s nuclear-sharing system is against the spirit of nuclear non-proliferation.