Minuteman III Missile Sends Dummy Warhead 4,200 Miles in Successful Test - US

According to Air Force, Personnel from the US Air Force's Global Strike Command successfully tested a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile system carrying a single non-explosive warhead on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – Personnel from the US Air Force's Global Strike Command successfully tested a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) system carrying a single non-explosive warhead on Wednesday, the Air Force said in a press release.

"[The Air Force] launched an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile equipped with a single test re-entry vehicle on April 26 at 12:03am Pacific Daylight Time from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California," the release explained.

The Air Force explained the ICBM's operational testing warhead "traveled to the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, approximately 4,200 miles away from the launch site."

Three units within the Air Force located in the US states of Wyoming, Montana and Nebraska were responsible for testing the ICBM.

The go-ahead command to launch the ICBM came from an aloft Air Launch Control System carried on board a Navy E-6 Mercury jet, the release noted.

The Mercury is based on the Boeing 707-320 commercial model and is sometimes referred to as the "Doomsday Plane."

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