U.S. Air Force Test Fires ICBM from California Coast

June 29th, 2009

Via: AP:

The Air Force successfully launched an unarmed Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missile Monday from the California coast to an area in the Pacific Ocean some 4,200 miles away.

The ICBM was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base near Santa Barbara at 3:01 a.m. and carried three unarmed re-entry vehicles to their targets near the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, said Lt. Raymond Geoffroy.

The missile, configured with a National Nuclear Security Administration Test Assembly, was launched under the direction of the 576th Flight Test Squadron, whose members installed tracking and command destruct systems on it to collect data and meet safety requirements.

The Air Force says the launch was an operational test to check the weapon system’s reliability and accuracy, and the data will be used by United States Strategic Command planners and Department of Energy laboratories.

2 Responses to “U.S. Air Force Test Fires ICBM from California Coast”

  1. thucydides says:

    La la la la, obviously not a response to North Korea, la la la, we’re busy collecting data on flight safety and tracking information, la la la, another innocent DoE lab project.

    Nothing to see here, please move along. 🙂

  2. Eileen says:

    @thucydides –
    Wonder whether this was another test of the Star Wars shoot down the missile system? What a piece of crap.
    Whacking off for show.
    But that’s just me.
    http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2009_04/GAOmissileDefense

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