Missileers from F. E. Warren AFB, Wyo., conducted an operational test launch of a Minuteman III ICBM from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., early Wednesday morning. The randomly selected missile pulled from an operational 90th Missile Wing launch facility successfully lofted an inert, instrumented re-entry vehicle some 4,200 miles to impact at the Kwajalein Atoll test range in the Marshall Islands. “We literally hold the keys to the most powerful weapons ever developed and we ensure the safety and reliability of these weapons,” 320th Missile Squadron combat crew commander 1st Lt. Daniel Uresti Jr said in an Oct. 21 release. Air Force Global Strike Command regularly draws missiles from each of the missile wings at F. E. Warren, Malmstrom AFB, Mont., and Minot AFB, N.D., to test the reliability of the fielded ICBM force. Crews from F. E.? Warren and Malmstrom fired Minuteman IIIs back-to-back in March, an E-6B Mercury Airborne Command Post crew directed a launch in May, and a Minot crew launched in August. Test launches are complemented by Simulated Electronic Launch-Minuteman (SELM), which test the function of the operational launch control systems.
An important U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.