The United States Air Force launched a Minuteman III missile across the Pacific Ocean in November 2025 as part of a nuclear force readiness initiative that coincides with an overhaul of the country’s nuclear arsenal. The Minuteman is part of the nuclear triad along with submarine-based nuclear missiles and nuclear bombs carried by B-52 and B-2 bombers currently undergoing a $1.4 billion overhaul.
The intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) was launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base on November 5 after being plucked from the nation’s stockpile at random, part of the regular testing process, according to Stars and Stripes, a U.S. military affairs newspaper. The launch from the Western Test Range at Vandenburg, near Lompoc on the central California coast, terminated when the unarmed reentry vehicle flight ended 6,759 kilometers southwest at the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command’s Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site at the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. “It’s a comprehensive assessment to verify and validate the ICBM system’s ability to perform its critical mission,’ Lt. Col. Karrie Wray, commander of the 576th Flight Test Squadron, told Stars and Stripes.
The Minuteman III will be phased out beginning in 2029 in favor of the $141 billion LGM-35A Sentinel ballistic missile system. But it remains a potent deterrent: Each missile carries a warhead with an atomic yield more than 20 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in World War II. “As we modernize to the Sentinel weapon system, we must continue to maintain the readiness of the existing Minuteman III fleet,” said Gen. S.L. Davis, commander of Air Force Global Strike Command.
The Minuteman is the land-based portion of the nuclear triad. As of late 2024, the U.S had approximately 400 such missiles siloed in the northern tier of states, according to the newspaper. The U.S. Navy’s 14 Ohio-class nuclear submarines are equipped with Trident II D5 nuclear-tipped missiles, and the Air Force’s B-2 Spirit and B-52 Stratofortress carry nuclear weapons, too. In the coming years, those legs of the triad also will be upgraded. The Navy is developing a new class of ballistic missile submarines with the first ship, the USS District of Columbia, expected to be delivered in 2029. The Air Force is testing the first of a planned 100 B-21 Raider strategic bombers.
The latest Minuteman test was initiated by the 625th Strategic Operations Squadron aboard a U.S. Navy E-6B Mercury aircraft using the Airborne Launch Control System, which functions as a backup command and control system for the U.S. ICBM fleet. “This test, designated GT 254, evaluated the ongoing reliability, operational readiness, and accuracy of the ICBM system, a cornerstone of America’s national defense,” Air Force Global Strike Command said in a statement to Stars and Stripes.
The Marshall Island test site has telemetry, metric and signature sensors that track the final phase of the Minuteman’s flight, the Air Force stated in a release. “This test validated the reliability, adaptability and modularity of the weapon system,” said Col. Dustin Harmon, 377th Test and Evaluation Group commander, the unit that oversaw the launch preparations. Missile maintainers from the 90th Missile Wing at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming provided support.