US Air Force Launching Minuteman III Missile Tonight

The Pentagon says that the United States Air Force is preparing to test an unarmed Minuteman 3 Intercontinental Ballistic Missile with a launch from Vandenberg AFB in California tonight, the fourth such test this year. 

The 30th Space Wing says the missile was to be launched between 12:01 AM and 6:01 AM Wednesday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, which is about about 130 miles northwest of Los Angeles. 

An official Air Force statement said that the new test would display the effectiveness, readiness, and accuracy of the weapon system which would be used as a defensive mechanism if America were ever threatened or used as a first strike tactic to level a city in the event of a preeminent order. 

The ultra powerful Minuteman missiles are regularly tested with launches from Vandenberg that send unarmed re-entry vehicles an estimated 4,200 miles across the Pacific to a target area at Kwajalein Atoll. 

However, the latest U.S. launches come amidst new tensions with North Korea that threatened the security of American allies as that nation develops its own ICBMs. 

Flight data on North Korea’s most recent test, conducted this past Friday suggested that a broad part of the mainland United States, including Los Angeles and Chicago, is now in the range of Pyongyang’s weapons, in which Kim Jong Un has threatened to annihilate the United States with on multiple occasions. 

In response to the most recent launch, the United States Air Force flew two B-1 bombers over the Korean Peninsula on Sunday in a show of force to display the readiness of America to strike at any time necessary in order to defend liberty and her allies. 

The Pentagon also said it conducted a successful test of a missile defense system located in Alaska. 

Previous Minuteman ICBM launches this year were conducted in February, April, and May. During those months of research, the Air Force also conducted a test of a missile interceptor launched from Vandenberg.  The interceptor destroyed a mock warhead over the Pacific. 

Undoubtedly the situation with North Korea is escalating to a boiling point which most now sees as an unavoidable conflict.  It's not a matter of if, but a matter of when.