On Tuesday, the US military carried out a test of a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) after the launch was delayed over China’s drills around Taiwan that came in the wake of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island.
US Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC) said the ICBM was launched from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. It was unarmed and equipped with a test reentry vehicle, which traveled 4,200 miles and splashed down near the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
The nuclear-capable Minuteman III is produced by Boeing and has a range of over 6,000 miles.
The AFGSC said the test launches “verify the accuracy and reliability of the ICBM weapon system, providing valuable data to ensure a continued safe, secure and effective nuclear deterrent.”
The command downplayed the idea that the test had anything to do with current global tensions. “Such tests have occurred more than 300 times before, and this test is not the result of current world events,” AFGSC said.
The Pentagon previously delayed the test because it did not want to ratchet up tensions further with China, although the US is planning to send warships and warplanes into the Taiwan Strait in the coming weeks.
The US has a dark history of weapons testing in the Marshall Islands, where from 1946 to 1958, 67 nuclear tests were conducted. To this day, many areas are still uninhabitable due to high radiation levels. The US has refused to properly compensate the people of the Marshall Islands for the health problems and environmental damage the testing caused.
North Korea recognized long ago that the US can eradicate their country. This test was unnecessary, and it does not change the fact that retaliation would be too costly to bear.
Could the US navy defeat China’s navy? I’m going to say “probably”. But that too would be too costly to bear. Moreover, it would not save Taiwan if the mainland becomes determined to take it back.
We need to get rid of the warmongers in D.C. They squander our wealth, threaten the planet, and are doing everything in their power to create a world where “nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom”.
The command downplayed the idea that the test had anything to do with current global tensions. “Such tests have occurred more than 300 times before, and this test is not the result of current world events,” AFGSC said.
Precisely. We’ve always been like this. Belligerent assholes.
How come all the hullabaloo when N. Korea or Iran carries out tests, but we do it all the time?
Why, because we’re us and they’re not.
LOL!!!
Because we rule the world, and they live in it.
On it, not in a subterranean cave “in it”. lol
Absolute Lie…!
Over which part of China did they carry it out? The Mainland or Taiwan?
It wasn’t over China or Taiwan. The original delay of the ICBM test was allegedly over the China military drills off of Taiwan. The homepage headline cut out the word “drills” which is in the article headline, leading a lot of readers (like you and myself) to initially think it was literally fired over China. Accident 0r clickbait — you be the judge.
That was sarcasm over the headline.
Is Nancy planning any more trips anywhere?… She might accidentally start a war…
“accidentally”