US Test-Launches Minuteman III Missile Amid Renewed Nuclear Testing Push

The US military test-launched an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile from California on Nov. 5, in a routine check of the system’s reliability and accuracy.

The missile was fired from Vandenberg Space Force Base and traveled about 4,200 miles (6,750 kilometers) across the Pacific Ocean to the Ronald Reagan Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

The Vandenberg Air Force Base press service said data were collected using radar, optical sensors, and telemetry systems to analyze the missile’s performance.

First deployed in the early 1970s, the Minuteman III can carry nuclear warheads over distances exceeding 12,000 kilometers (7,450 miles) with high precision. Despite its age, the system continues to be modernized with upgrades to guidance, control, and security systems.

The launch came days after President Donald Trump said Washington planned to conduct “some testing,” without clarifying whether it would include underground nuclear explosions like those used during the Cold War – a practice the US halted in 1992.

Trump said, “Other countries do it. If they’re going to do it, we’re going to do it. I’m not going to say here.”

Trump’s claim is inaccurate when referring to explosive nuclear testing. While Russia continues to test nuclear-capable delivery systems and North Korea has launched missiles that could carry nuclear warheads, North Korea is the only nation to have conducted an actual nuclear explosive test since the 1990s.

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Russia signals a response

Just days later, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the government and security agencies to prepare proposals for possible nuclear testing – the first since 1990.

Speaking at a Security Council meeting in the Kremlin, Putin directed the foreign ministry, defense ministry, intelligence agencies, and civilian bodies to gather data, analyze it, and submit plans “on a possible start of work to prepare for nuclear weapons testing.”

Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service said it had sought clarification from Washington on Trump’s statements but received no direct response.

Defense Minister Andrey Belousov proposed that Moscow could conduct full-scale tests in the Arctic at Novaya Zemlya, the country’s main nuclear testing site. The site has hosted hundreds of detonations since the 1950s, the last in October 1990.

Since then, Russia has only conducted subcritical experiments that do not produce an actual explosion.

Putin stressed that Russia remains compliant with the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty but warned the country would act if the US or other treaty members resumed testing.

“If the US or other states conduct such tests, Russia must take adequate and corresponding actions,” he said.

The announcement comes weeks after Putin declared that Russia had completed tests of its new nuclear-powered cruise missile, the Burevestnik, and its torpedo counterpart, the Poseidon.