File picture of an unarmed Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missile being examined from Vandenberg Air Power Base, California.
| Picture Credit score: AP
America has carried out a take a look at launch of the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), also known as the “doomsday missile”, at a time when tensions with Iran stay excessive.
The Air Power World Strike Command of the U.S. mentioned the take a look at occurred on Tuesday (March 3, 2026) from the Vandenberg Area Power Base in California. In an announcement issued on Wednesday (March 4, 2026), the U.S. Air Power Command famous that the missile, carrying two re-entry automobiles, travelled a number of thousand miles earlier than reaching its deliberate impression zone close to the Marshall Islands within the west‑central Pacific Ocean.
The assertion mentioned that the launch had been scheduled years prematurely and was not linked to any ongoing international developments. The U.S. Area Power mentioned the take a look at shaped a part of a protracted‑working programme that includes greater than 300 comparable launches supposed to evaluate the reliability and readiness of the system. In line with the assertion, knowledge gathered from these routine exams helps present and future power planning.
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What’s the Minuteman III?
The Minuteman III is an intercontinental ballistic missile and varieties one of many three pillars of america’ nuclear triad. The opposite two elements are strategic bombers, which embrace plane such because the B‑52 Stratofortress and B‑2 Spirit, and submarine‑launched ballistic missiles deployed on U.S. Navy submarines.
The missile is nuclear‑succesful and usually fitted with a single Mark 21 excessive‑constancy re‑entry automobile. It has lengthy been considered a central component of the U.S. strategic deterrent. With a variety exceeding 6,000 miles and speeds of roughly 15,000 miles per hour, it’s designed to succeed in targets throughout continents inside minutes.
Missiles are positioned in strengthened underground silos which might be supposed to face up to assaults. Every silo is related to a subterranean launch management centre by way of hardened communication strains.
Why it’s known as a ‘doomsday’ missile?
The Minuteman III is usually described as a “doomsday” missile due to the devastating penalties related to a nuclear strike, notably the widespread radiation fallout that would render giant areas uninhabitable.
It’s the solely land‑primarily based, silo‑deployed, nuclear‑succesful ballistic missile at the moment within the U.S. arsenal and is designed for fast response within the occasion of a nuclear assault. As an ICBM, it could actually cross continents at hypersonic speeds and might attain virtually any location on this planet.
The missile is able to carrying a number of independently targetable re‑entry automobiles, which permit a single launch to strike a number of places. Though the system can maintain as much as three warheads, the present Minuteman III carries just one, in step with a nuclear arms discount settlement with Russia.
Printed – March 05, 2026 03:57 pm IST