On 4 June 2024 at 12:56 am US Pacific Time a joint team of US Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC) airmen and US Space Force guardians test-launched an unarmed Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
The test launch of the missile, which was equipped with a single re-entry vehicle, was part of routine and periodic activities intended to demonstrate that the US nuclear deterrent is safe, secure, reliable and effective to deter 21st century threats and reassure US allies.
Such tests have occurred over 300 times before, with the US Air Force (USAF) stressing in a press release that the test “is not the result of current world events”. Rhetoric from Russian President Vladimir Putin has recently raised the prospect of Russian nuclear weapons being used in response to Washington clearing Ukraine to use US-supplied long-range weapons to strike targets on Russian territory.
The ICBM’s re-entry vehicle travelled approximately 4,200 miles (6,760 km) to the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command’s Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site (RTS) on the US Army Garrison-Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. RTS sensors, including high-fidelity metric and signature radars, as well as optical sensors and other telemetric devices, support the research, development, test and evaluation of US defence and space programmes.
Airmen from all three US missile wings were selected for the task force to support the test launch, while maintainers from the 90th Missile Wing at F E Warren Air Force Base (AFB) in Wyoming provided maintenance support. The missile bases within AFGSC have crew members on alert 24 hours a day, all year round, to oversee the nation’s ICBM alert forces.
The US ICBM community, including the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy and US Strategic Command, uses data collected from test launches for continuing force development evaluation. The ICBM test launch programme “demonstrates the operational capability of the Minuteman III and ensures the United States’ ability to maintain a strong, credible nuclear deterrent as a key element of US national security and the security of US allies and partners”, the USAF stated.
AFGSC, which marks its 15th anniversary in 2024, is a major US command with its headquarters at Barksdale AFB in northern Louisiana. The command oversees the nation’s three ICBM wings, the USAF’s entire bomber force, Air Force Nuclear Command, as well as control and communications systems and operational and maintenance support to organisations within the US nuclear enterprise. Approximately 33,700 professionals are assigned to two numbered air forces, nine wings, two geographically separated squadrons and one detachment, both in the continental US and deployed to locations around the globe.
The Minuteman III ICBM will ultimately be replaced by the LG-35A Sentinel ICBM, which is set to have an initial capability of 2029. Until full capability with the Sentinel is achieved in the mid-2030s, however, the USAF is committed to ensuring the Minuteman III remains a viable deterrent.
