A team involving multiple branches of the military conducted an unarmed Minuteman III missile test late Tuesday night at Vandenberg Space Force Base. 

Blasting out of its silo at 11:01 p.m., the weapon traveled to predetermined targets 4,200 miles away in the Army’s Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site located within Republic of the Marshall Islands at the Kwajalein Atoll.  

The three-stage weapon carried multiple targetable re-entry vehicles, or mock warhead equipped with sensors to collect data for the test involving the Air Force and Space Force.

“This Minuteman III test launch exemplified the mission readiness, agility, and professionalism of the personnel at Vandenberg, Air Force Global Strike Command, and the U.S. Navy,” said Col. Dorian Hatcher, Space Launch Delta 30 deputy commander. 

“Every test of this deterrent system at Vandenberg underscores the nations robust capabilities and highlights the indispensable support our Airmen and Guardians provide to ensure national security,” Hatcher said. 

The Election Night test launch occurred as part of a routine program designed to demonstrate that “the United States’ nuclear deterrent is safe, secure, reliable and effective to deter 21st century threats and reassure our allies,” military officials said.  

Normally, the commands to signal the test launch come from crews at an underground launch control center at Vandenberg. However, Tuesday’s test involved the Airborne Launch Control System or crew aboard a Navy plane. 

Airmen from the 625th Strategic Operations Squadron out of Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, were aboard a Navy E-6B Mercury aircraft to deliver the final action for the test to take place.

“An airborne launch validates the survivability of our ICBMs, which serve as the strategic backstop of our nation’s defense and defense of allies and partners,” said Gen. Thomas A. Bussiere, who leads Louisiana-based Air Force Global Strike Command.

More than 300 similar test launches have taken place with the schedule crafted years ahead of time and not in reaction to world events.

After standing on alert for five decades, the Minuteman III weapon’s retirement plans are in the works. The Air Force is developing the Sentinel missile will replace the Minuteman III ICBM with an initial capability of 2029. 

Until full capability is achieved in the mid-2030s, the Air Force is committed to ensuring Minuteman III remains a viable deterrent, officials said.