OREANDA-NEWS. The US Department of Defense conducted a new launch of the intercontinental ballistic missile Minuteman III to test the reliability of its systems. This was announced on October 29 by the press service of the US Air Force Global Strike Command.

According to the military, the launch was made from a silo at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California State. The missile training warhead covered a distance of about 6.75 thousand kilometers and hit a target in the area of ​​the Kwajalein Atoll (Marshall Islands) in the Pacific Ocean. Test launches confirmed that missile systems are accurate and reliable, the press service reported.

The silo-based Minuteman III missiles were put into service almost 50 years ago. According to American experts, the US Air Force has 400 Minuteman III missiles, each equipped with one nuclear charge with a capacity of 300 or 335 kilotons. They are deployed at Malmstrom (Montana), Minot (North Dakota) and Francis E. Warren (Wyoming) air force bases.