Minuteman 3 Launch | Watch: US Launches Nuclear-Capable Minuteman III In Doomsday Missile Test

Amid US President Donald Trump's plan for a nationwide missile defense system, the US Air Force launched a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), Minuteman III, in a doomsday missile test on Wednesday. The missile was unarmed when it was launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. According to the US Air Force, the missile flew about 4,200 miles, at a speed of more than 15,000 miles per hour, to the US Army Space and Missile Defence Command's Ronald Reagan Ballistic Defence test site at the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The US military also clarified that the missile launch test was routine and "not a response to current world events". The Minuteman III nuclear-capable missile is equipped with a single Mark-21 high-fidelity re-entry vehicle - which would typically contain a nuclear payload if it were launched operationally. It has been test-launched many times in the past - even moments before Trump declared his Presidential victory in November 2024. The Minuteman is a 1970-era program that the Air Force plans to replace with the Sentinel system. "Until full capability is achieved, the Air Force is committed to ensuring Minuteman III remains a viable deterrent," it said.