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The United States tested two intercontinental ballistic missiles. They were sent on Tuesday, June 4. Thursday, June 6. From the Vandenberg Space Base on the coast of California to the Kwajalein Atoll in the central Pacific Ocean, a distance of 6,700 kilometers. Among other things, the news reported this test Defense News and CBS.
Since this was a test, the Minuteman III missile was not equipped with a nuclear warhead. In a real situation, the “Minuuttimen” waiting in the silo is at the top W78– this W87-Core Tip. Both have an explosive energy of 300–500 tnt kilotons, or about 1–2 petajoules (1 tnt megaton = 4.2 PJ).
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According to a U.S. Air Force press release The accuracy of the missile’s trajectory is monitored at the destination using a number of different methods including radar and optical equipment, as well as telemetry data transmitted by the missile itself.
The press release stressed that the motivation for this summer’s missile tests was to ensure the functionality and reliability of the technology, not the current tense world political situation, at least not in a specific way. Over the decades, the United States has conducted more than 300 intercontinental missile tests.
The need for reliability testing is understandable, as the Minuteman fleet is aging dramatically. The first version of the Minuteman missile was used between 1962 and 1969, the second version was used between 1965 and 1994, and the latest version, the Minuteman III, has been in use since 1970.
Now there is only one hint.
The Minuteman III missile was originally multi-tipped, but now has a single tip. This is the bow of a Minuteman III equipped with three W78 bombs.
Photo: U.S. Department of Defense
The “Minuuttimiët” is a solid-fuel, ground-launched, three-stage missile. The latest Minuteman III is 18.3 meters tall and has a surprisingly small diameter of only 1.68 meters.
The Minuteman III has a range of 14,000 kilometers, which can reach almost the other side of the world. Its top speed is 28,000 kilometers per hour, or 7.8 kilometers per second.
According to CBS, there are currently about 400 Minuteman IIIs in silos across the United States.
In the coming decades, the United States plans to replace its militias Equipped with Sentinel missilesThe first test will take place in 2026. The Minuteman III will continue to serve into the 2030s, pending completion of the Sentinel program.
The Minuteman III is the world’s first intercontinental missile with three nuclear warheads. Since the 1990s, these missiles have only been equipped with one warhead because the Strategic Arms Reduction Agreement signed by the United States and Russia in 1992 limited the number of nuclear warheads. Russia withdrew from the treaty in 2002 in protest of the United States’ withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. About the Anti-Ballistic Missile Agreement.
The target point of the missile trajectory belongs to the Marshall Islands Kwajaleining Atollwith several US military bases. There are 97 islands above sea level in the atoll, 11 of which are leased by the United States for its own use.
Marshall Islands independence from the United States From Pacific Maintenance and Management District 1986. Now Close alliance For the United States, as well as Palau and Micronesia, they have been separated from the same service management area.
Missile tracking base.
The United States uses such equipment, among other things, to monitor missile tests in Kwajalein Atoll, part of the Marshall Islands. Photo from 2015.
Photo: U.S. Army
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