UNITED STATES. The Pentagon has successfully tested an intercontinental missile

The United States said on Wednesday it had successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the operation having been announced in advance to avoid any escalation of tensions with Russia in the midst of the conflict in Ukraine.

The unarmed Minuteman III missile was launched on September 7 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California at 1:13 a.m. local (10:13 a.m. French time) and traveled some 6,760 km over the Pacific before crashing into the sea. near Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, the Air Force said in a statement.

« This is routine testing and periodic operations intended to show that the United States nuclear deterrent system is safe, secure, reliable and effective, » the statement said. « This type of testing has been done over 300 times and has nothing to do with current world events, » the Air Force added.

The last test postponed twice

The United States does not usually announce its ICBM missile tests in advance, but the last test of Minuteman III, a missile equipped with a warhead that in wartime can carry a nuclear bomb, had to be postponed until two times because of international tensions.

Originally scheduled for March, it was postponed for the first time because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Washington fearing that Moscow would use this ordinary test to widen the conflict to other countries.

It had been postponed a second time in early August after the visit of the speaker of the American House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, an island claimed by Beijing.

The test was finally successfully completed on August 16.

It is a coincidence that the two tests were conducted so close together, said General Pat Ryder, spokesman for the Pentagon, on Tuesday during a press briefing.

The Minuteman III, in service for 50 years, is the only surface-to-air missile in the United States nuclear arsenal since 2005. It is installed in launch silos spread over three American military bases, in Wyoming, Dakota North, and Montana (northern United States).

Trident missiles, launched from the sea, are deployed on board American submarines while nuclear bombs are carried by strategic bombers.