Navigational warnings indicate that the United States has scheduled its first test of a nuclear-capable, but unarmed, intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) after President Donald Trump ordered the renewal of testing, according to a Newsweek map.
Newsweek has reached out via email to the U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command, which is responsible for the nation's ICBMs and nuclear bomber air fleet, for comment.
Why It Matters
Last week, Trump announced on social media that he had ordered the Department of Defense to immediately begin testing nuclear weapons, as Russia and China—the key nuclear rivals of the U.S.—have continued testing their respective arsenals.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright later clarified that the tests will not include actual detonations like those previously carried out in the country. Instead, they will involve all other parts of a nuclear weapon to ensure they can trigger an atomic explosion.
The U.S. military has regularly tested its ICBM fleet, which is part of the nuclear triad along with nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines and bombers, several times a year to ensure it is safe, secure, effective and practical in providing strategic deterrence.
What To Know
Citing navigational warnings, Marco Langbroek, a lecturer in the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, said the upcoming U.S. Minuteman III ICBM test launch will occur between Wednesday and Thursday.
The missile is scheduled to launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California and reach the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands in the Central Pacific, along with five designated debris zones.
If confirmed, the flight path would be similar to a previous test launch conducted in May, when an unarmed missile, equipped with a single reentry vehicle designed to carry a warhead, traveled west about 4,200 miles after launching from California.
This would also mark the second time since September that U.S. nuclear forces have conducted a test, when a submarine fired four unarmed Trident II D5 Life Extension submarine-launched ballistic missiles in the Atlantic Ocean off Florida.
According to the Federation of American Scientists' Nuclear Information Project, the U.S. Air Force has 400 Minuteman III ICBMs, deployed in silos across Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota and Wyoming, with a range of more than 6,000 miles.
While 800 nuclear warheads are assigned to the Minuteman III ICBM fleet, with each deployed with only one, the missiles are technically capable of carrying two or three each if the Air Force chooses to equip extras.
"The Air Force conducts several Minuteman III flight tests each year. These are long-planned tests, and the Air Force consistently states that they are not scheduled in response to any external events," the Nuclear Information Project wrote in a report.
In a press release regarding the May Minuteman test launch, the Air Force Global Strike Command said the "routine and periodic" event is one of more than 300 similar tests conducted so far and "is not a response to current world events."
What People Are Saying
The U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command said in a press release in May: "This test launch is part of routine and periodic activities designed to demonstrate that the United States' nuclear deterrent remains safe, secure, reliable and effective in deterring 21st-century threats and reassuring our allies. With more than 300 similar tests conducted in the past, this test is part of the nation's ongoing commitment to maintaining a credible deterrent and is not a response to current world events."
The Federation of American Scientists' Nuclear Information Project said in a report on U.S. nuclear weapons in January: "Although the Minuteman III was initially deployed in 1970, it has been modernized several times, including in 2015, when the missiles completed a multibillion-dollar, decade-long modernization program to extend their service life until 2030. The modernized Minuteman III missiles were referred to by Air Force personnel as 'basically new missiles except for the shell.'"
What Happens Next
It remains to be seen how Russia and China will react if the U.S. ICBM test launch proceeds as planned. Moscow recently conducted a test of a nuclear-capable torpedo, while Beijing showcased a new ICBM, capable of "covering the entire globe."
