Air Force Space Command launched an unarmed Minuteman III ICBM from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., last week to test the Minuteman’s acceptance of a newer warhead, the Mark 21 from the now-decommissioned Peacekeeper ICBMs. The dummy re-entry vehicle traveled 4,800 miles, striking its target at the Kwajalein Missile Range in the Marshall Islands.
After years of describing to lawmakers and Pentagon leaders the nature of that threat and the key role spacepower plays in deterring conflict in the domain and enabling the rest of the joint force, Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman told reporters during AFA’s Warfare Symposium here that the message appears to…