The US tested a doomsday ballistic missile off the California coast Tuesday night — as war raged in the Middle East.
The Minuteman III ballistic missile — which is capable of carrying nuclear warheads 20 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima — launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base near Santa Barbara at 11 p.m.
The unarmed rocket, known as GT 254, hit its intended target near the Marshall Islands in the west-central Pacific Ocean, according to the US Space Force.
The missile was fired to “verify the effectiveness, readiness and accuracy,” according to the Air Force Global Strike Command.
“[It] allowed us to assess the performance of individual components of the missile system,”Lt. Col. Karrie Wray, commander of the 576th Flight Test Squadron said in a press release.
“By continually assessing varying mission profiles, we are able to enhance the performance of the entire [Intercontinental Ballistic Missile] fleet, ensuring the maximum level of readiness for the land-based leg of the nation’s nuclear triad.”
The test launch comes just days after the US and Israel launched an attack on Iran, killing the nation’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, at his compound in Tehran — setting off a war in the region.
President Trump later vowed to step up strikes on Iran, warning, “The big one is coming.”
The Air Force Global Strike Command said Tuesday’s test-launch was routine and scheduled years in advance.
The Minuteman III missile is one part of America’s nuclear triad, which include the ability to launch world-destroying weapons from the land, sea and air.
The missiles are stored in silos scattered across the American west — and designed to deter nuclear armageddon, but ensuring that the US will be able to strike back if it is ever hit with an atomic attack.
A Minuteman III missile was also launched in November after President Trump called for restarting the nuclear weapons tests.
The missile can travel 6,000 miles at speeds of more than 15,000 mph and strike anywhere in the world.
