Air Force Conducts Midnight Missile Test Off California Central Coast

LOMPOC, CA — An unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile was launched just after midnight Wednesday from Vandenberg Air Force Base as part of an operational test to show the country’s nuclear deterrent capability, according to a report in the L.A. Times. The Minuteman III missile test launch occurred at 12:03 a.m. from the base northwest of Lompoc. The launch command was delivered from the Airborne Launch Control System on a Navy E-6 Mercury jet.

The missile, which was equipped with a nonexplosive payload that recorded flight data, traveled 4,200 miles to a test range in the Marshall Islands. Click here to read the full story.

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