Alwaght-The US has tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) saying the move is meant to ensure its effectiveness, readiness and accuracy, and demonstrate national nuclear capabilities.
The Minuteman III missile test comes amid rising tensions between the US and North Korea with both threatening each other with nuclear strike. A spokeswoman for the Air Force Global Strike Command claims the test was planned in advance and is not connected with the situation in North Korea.
The missile was launched from North Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, according to the 30th Space Wing, which conducted the test.
“These Minuteman launches are essential to verify the status of our national nuclear force and to demonstrate our national nuclear capabilities,” the commander of the unit, Colonel John Moss, said in a statement.
The test launch is aimed at validating and verifying “the effectiveness, readiness, and accuracy of the weapon system,” according to the Air Force Global Strike Command.
The US has tested a nuclear capable missile a day after the British conservative government said it is prepared to launch what it calls a preemptive nuclear strike against any enemy, even if Britain was not under attack.
“In the most extreme circumstances we have made it very clear that you can’t rule out the use of nuclear weapons as a first strike,” Defense Secretary Michael Fallon told the BBC’s Today program.
This comes after a UN institute warned that the possibility of a “nuclear weapon detonation event,” is now the highest it has been since the end of the Cold War.
"The threat of a nuclear weapon detonation event in 2017 is arguably at its highest in the 26 years since the collapse of the Soviet Union,” said the UN Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR).
"The return of Cold War-like confrontational postures has hindered international cooperation and confidence-building,” the UN agency's a comprehensive study said.
