Wednesday, May 3, 2017

U.S. Air Force Successfully Launches Second Minuteman III Missile In 7 Days



FOX News: US Air Force launches another long-range missile into Pacific

For the second time in a week, the U.S. Air Force test launched another long-range ballistic missile on Wednesday morning, flying more than 4,000 miles from a base in California before splashing down in the Pacific near the Marshall Islands.

The test comes just days after North Korea attempted a missile test of its own -- but failed -- as tensions remain high in the region.

The Minuteman III missile was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California by a team in Montana shortly after 3 a.m. ET, the Air Force said in a statement. Officials said the launch was planned years in advance and was not related to rising tensions with North Korea.

Read more ....

Update #1: US tests intercontinental ballistic missile from California (AFP)
Update #2: US successfully launches second Minuteman III ballistic missile in 7 days (PHOTOS, VIDEO) (RT)

WNU Editor: So the system works. In addition (from FOX News) ....

.... The Air Force keeps 450 Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles on alert around the clock in underground silos across three bases in Montana, North Dakota and Wyoming.

3 comments:

James said...

"So the system works." That's thing, how does one know. The nature of the threat itself makes it an almost unknowable quantity. Did the threat know this wasn't a war shot and just lay dormant? This may be just a lot of speculation, but it's possible. At this time the only way you could have any certainty would be to have a close hold on the entire chain of creation of the weapon (of which there are thousands).
Think about it, each one of these weapons are a composite of hundreds and hundreds of parts from many different places. The job of security starts to become difficult to even imagine.
There are people on this blog with actual experience who could speak to this and I hope they do, if they can.

Anonymous said...

Agreed. And just look at the reports on this matter, including discipline and readiness issues with silo crews (understandably so)

James said...

Anon,
This is one of things that really worries me. It's not that I think entities are going have this capability soon, I think they've had it at least the last 6 years, very possibly more. The silo crew issues are separate, but the same weapon, Just look at what happened up at Minot. I don't want to seem like I'm humming "we're on the eve of destruction", but there are worries.