United States Air Force test-launches Minuteman missile from Vandenberg

[Hindustani78]

Air Force test-launches Minuteman missile from Vandenberg
The Associated Press 6:55 p.m. EDT March 23, 2015

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — The Air Force says an unarmed Minuteman 3 missile was launched from California in a test of the intercontinental ballistic missile system.

The missile lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 3:36 a.m. Monday.

Col. Keith Balts says the test will provide accuracy and reliability data for current and future modifications of the Minuteman system.

The missile used in the test was brought from F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

[Hindustani78]

The US successfully test fired an extremely precise intercontinental ballistic missile - Business Insider

• Kukil Bora, International Business Times

• Mar. 24, 2015, 9:48 AM
  
  

The United States successfully test fired an intercontinental ballistic missile on Monday from a facility in California, the U.S. Air Force announced in a statement.
The unarmed missile was equipped with a “test re-entry vehicle” instead of a live thermonuclear warhead.

The missile, dubbed “Minuteman III,” was launched at 3:36 a.m. PDT (6:36 a.m. EDT) from Vandenberg Air Force Base (AFB) in California.

Monday’s successful testing of the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a "key element" of the security of the United States and its allies, the Air Force said.

“With these launches, we not only verify our processes and the ICBM weapon system, we provide a visual to the world that the Minuteman III is capable of striking pretty much anywhere with extreme precision,” Lt. Col. Tytonia Moore of the 90th Missile Wing, based out of the Francis E. Warren AFB in Wyoming, said in the statement.

The Minuteman III missiles are the only land-based ICBM in service in the U.S. The country currently has 450 Minuteman III missiles in missile silos around three missile wing commands, including Malmstrom AFB in Montana, Minot AFB in North Dakota and F.E. Warren AFB, Wyoming, RT.com reported.

According to the U.S. Air Force, the “ICBM test launch program demonstrates the operational credibility of the Minuteman III and ensures the United States’ ability to maintain a strong, credible nuclear deterrent as a key element of U.S. national security and the security of U.S. allies and partners.

6000 miles . 9656.06 kms.

 

[Hindustani78]

Air Force test-launches unarmed missile from California
August 19, 2015
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — The Air Force says an unarmed Minuteman 3 missile was launched from California in a test of the intercontinental ballistic missile system.

The missile blasted off at 3:03 a.m. Wednesday from Vandenberg Air Force Base on the coast northwest of Los Angeles.

The Air Force says the missile carried a test re-entry vehicle that hit a target area 4,200 miles away near the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean.

Col. J. Christopher Moss, 30th Space Wing commander, said in a statement that such tests are a validation of the nation's defensive capabilities.

The test involved personnel from Vandenberg's 576th Flight Test Squadron and 30th Space Wing.

 

[Economic superpower]

DF-41 testing has hit a nerve

 

[Hindustani78]

https://www.airforcetimes.com/articles/air-force-test-launches-minuteman-missile-from-vandenberg

http://www.militarytimes.com/video/...tm_medium=player&utm_campaign=player_referral

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — The Air Force says an unarmed Minuteman 3 missile has been launched from California's central coast in the latest test of the intercontinental system.

The missile blasted off at 11:39 p.m. PDT Wednesday from Vandenberg Air Force Base northwest of Los Angeles.

The Air Force says the missile carried test re-entry vehicles that headed for a target area 4,200 miles away to the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean.

The Air Force routinely uses Vandenberg to test Minuteman missiles from bases around the country.

This test involved personnel from Vandenberg's 576th Flight Test Squadron and the 91st Missile Wing, Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

https://www.airforcetimes.com/articles/air-force-test-launches-minuteman-missile-from-vandenberg

http://www.militarytimes.com/video/...tm_medium=player&utm_campaign=player_referral

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — The Air Force says an unarmed Minuteman 3 missile has been launched from California's central coast in the latest test of the intercontinental system.

The missile blasted off at 11:39 p.m. PDT Wednesday from Vandenberg Air Force Base northwest of Los Angeles.

The Air Force says the missile carried test re-entry vehicles that headed for a target area 4,200 miles away to the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean.

The Air Force routinely uses Vandenberg to test Minuteman missiles from bases around the country.

This test involved personnel from Vandenberg's 576th Flight Test Squadron and the 91st Missile Wing, Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://www.militarytimes.com/articles/submarine-trident-nuclear-test

The U.S. Navy announced Thursday it had conducted a test launch of its Trident II D5 missile from an Ohio class ballistic missile submarine assigned to Submarine Group 9, out of Bangor, Washington.

The test launch of the nuclear capable missile system was part of regular tests that “are conducted on a frequent, recurring basis to ensure the continued reliability of the system,” said John Daniels, a spokesman for the Strategic Systems Program, which oversees the Ohio-class Trident submarine program.

The successful exercise was a culmination of a three-day training operation that saw the launch of four missiles. The missiles were unarmed during the training evolution and were launched from the sea and landed in the sea. “All missiles are tracked from multiple sources from launch until final impact in the ocean,” Daniels said.

The launch of the Trident systems comes during increased tensions between the United States and rivals Russia and North Korea.

On Monday, North Korean officials announced the successful test of the Pukguksong-2, a nuclear capable medium to long range ballistic missile, which landed in the Sea of Japan, according to Reuters.

The North Korea provocation was then followed by reports that Russia had secretly deployed cruise missiles in violation of a 1987 treaty banning intermediate range land based missiles between the two former Cold War rivals, according to a report by the New York Times.

However, Navy officials contend that “test flights were not conducted in response to any ongoing world events or as a demonstration of power,” Daniels said.

The Trident II D5 missile is an intercontinental ballistic missile, capable of carrying a nuclear payload, with a range of 4,000 nautical miles. The Trident is deployed on Ohio-class submarines, which are capable of carrying 24 missiles, according to Navy officials.

The Trident II D5 has been in service since 1989, with plans to remain in service past 2020, according to the Navy.

Submarine-launched ballistic missiles are one leg of a U.S. nuclear Triad system that includes land based intercontinental ballistic missiles and strategic bombers. The submarine nuclear deterrent has been an important aspect of U.S. defense strategy since 1956, and is considered the “most survivable leg of the strategic deterrent Triad,” Daniels said.

 

[Hindustani78]

https://sputniknews.com/us/201705031053239101-us-test-launch/

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – According to Fox News, which broadcast the launch, the unarmed ICBM blasted off from an air force base in California and flew more than 4,000 miles before falling into the Pacific Ocean.

The previous test launch of the ballistic missile by the United States took place on April 26. Media reported, citing the US Air Force Global Strike Command, that an unarmed Minuteman 3 was delivered to a target approximately 4,200 miles from the US Pacific Coast.

The launches are carried out amid tensions surrounding North Korea which had test fired several ballistic missiles over the recent months, including the latest one on Saturday.

According to media reports, there are currently 450 Minuteman missiles in service with the United States Air Force Global Strike Command and about 50 to 75 in reserve.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

https://sputniknews.com/us/201705031053239101-us-test-launch/

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – According to Fox News, which broadcast the launch, the unarmed ICBM blasted off from an air force base in California and flew more than 4,000 miles before falling into the Pacific Ocean.

The previous test launch of the ballistic missile by the United States took place on April 26. Media reported, citing the US Air Force Global Strike Command, that an unarmed Minuteman 3 was delivered to a target approximately 4,200 miles from the US Pacific Coast.

The launches are carried out amid tensions surrounding North Korea which had test fired several ballistic missiles over the recent months, including the latest one on Saturday.

According to media reports, there are currently 450 Minuteman missiles in service with the United States Air Force Global Strike Command and about 50 to 75 in reserve.

I bet they are still testing this (instead of relying on star navigation)
http://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2013-04-10

 

[Hindustani78]

An unarmed Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missile launches during an operational test just after midnight at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://zeenews.india.com/americas/p...bm-defence-system-for-first-time-2010619.html

Washington: The US military on Tuesday cheered a successful, first-ever missile defence test involving a simulated attack by an intercontinental ballistic missile, in a major milestone for a programme meant to defend against a mounting North Korean threat.

The US military fired an ICBM-type missile from the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands toward the waters just south of Alaska. It then fired a missile to intercept it from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Experts compare the job to hitting a bullet with another bullet and note the complexity is magnified by the enormous distances involved.


The Missile Defense Agency said it was the first live-fire test against a simulated ICBM for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD), managed by Boeing Co , and hailed it as an "incredible accomplishment."

"This system is vitally important to the defence of our homeland, and this test demonstrates that we have a capable, credible deterrent against a very real threat," Vice Admiral Jim Syring, director of the agency, said in a statement.

A successful test was by no means guaranteed and the Pentagon sought to manage expectations earlier in the day, noting that the United States had multiple ways to try to shoot down a missile from North Korea.

"This is one element of a broader missile defence strategy that we can use to employ against potential threats," Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis told reporters.

Prior to Tuesday`s launch, the GMD system had successfully hit its target in only nine of 17 tests since 1999. The last test was in 2014.

North Korea has dramatically ramped up missile tests over the past year in its effort to develop an ICBM that can strike the U.S. mainland.

The continental United States is around 9,000 km (5,500 miles) from North Korea. ICBMs have a minimum range of about 5,500 km (3,400 miles), but some are designed to travel 10,000 km (6,200 miles) or farther.

Riki Ellison, founder of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, described the test as "vital" prior to launch.

"We are replicating our ability to defend the United States of America from North Korea, today," Ellison said.

Failure could have deepened concern about a programme that according to one estimate has so far cost more than USD 40 billion. Its success could translate into calls by Congress to speed development.

In the fiscal year 2018 budget proposal sent to Congress last week, the Pentagon requested USD 7.9 billion for the Missile Defense Agency, including about $1.5 billion for the GMD programme.

A 2016 assessment released by the Pentagon`s weapons testing office in January said that US ground-based interceptors meant to knock out any incoming ICBM still had low reliability, giving the system a limited capability of shielding the United States.

 

[Hindustani78]

https://sputniknews.com/military/201706121054560011-raytheon-long-range-surface-missile-lprf/

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — US defense and aerospace giant Raytheon won an Army contract worth more than $116 million to test the design of a precision surface-to-surface missile that has a range of 300 miles, the company said in a press release.

"The US Army awarded Raytheon Company… a $116.4 million contract to enter the technological maturation and risk reduction phase of the Long-Range Precision Fires [LRPF] program," the release stated.

This phase, the release noted, includes testing missile components to ensure design is "ready for engineering and manufacturing development and live-fire demonstrations by the end of 2019."

The LRPF is a new, longer-range surface-to-surface weapon that can defeat fixed land targets out to about 300 miles, which will replace the existing Army Tactical Missile System, the release explained.

**********

The US could stand to gain quite a bit for its missile defense . The Pentagon’s Ground-based Midcourse Defense system (GMD) has been nothing short of a colossal failure. The Government Accountability Office, a federal watchdog, issued a report on the GMD, stating that it “has demonstrated a limited capability to defend the US Homeland from small numbers of simple intermediate-range or intercontinental ballistic missile threats launched from North Korea or Iran.”

If that wasn’t enough of a takedown of the multi-billion GMD program, the GAO added for good measure, “GMD flight testing, to date, was insufficient to demonstrate that an operationally useful defense capability exists.”

 

[Hindustani78]

A missile is being fired from the USS John Paul Jones successfully during a flight test on February 3, 2017 off Hawaii. | Photo Credit: AFP

http://www.thehindu.com/news/intern...-off-hawaii/article19587683.ece?homepage=true

It comes a day after North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and the Navy successfully conducted a missile defence test off the coast of Hawaii, the former said in a statement on August 30.

The test, scheduled well in advance, was done from USS John Paul Jones and comes a day after North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan. The test, using Standard Missile-6 guided missiles, intercepted a medium-range ballistic missile target.

North Korea said its missile launch was to counter U.S. and South Korean military drills, and was a first step in military action in the Pacific to “contain” the U.S. territory of Guam. The launch was condemned by the United Nations as an “outrageous” act.

The MDA said the test gives the naval component of the missile defence system higher ability to intercept ballistic missiles in their terminal phase.

Japan has been worried that the United States has so far declined to arm it with a powerful new radar.

Japan is seeking a land-based version of the Aegis ballistic missile defence system, operational by 2023, as a new layer of defense to help counter North Korea’s missile advances.


Standard Missile-6 Multi-mission Test