The United States will test a ground-based nuclear missile. What is known about Minuteman III

The Western press reports on the preparation by the United States of a test launch of a Minuteman III ballistic missile on the night of November 5-6. Earlier, US President Donald Trump demanded that his Ministry of War begin testing nuclear weapons, which are allegedly already being conducted by other countries. What the Minuteman III rocket is and what the United States wants to achieve with this launch is in the Izvestia article.

What are the tests for?

• Donald Trump's statement about the start of nuclear tests in the United States came after the successful launches of new models of Russian weapons — the Poseidon underwater drone and the Burevestnik cruise missile. During the test launches, Russia did not use nuclear charges, so they were not a test of nuclear weapons.

• The information about the launch of nuclear tests was political in nature and was intended to support the authority of the US Armed Forces in the world. The Pentagon regularly conducts test launches of missiles capable of carrying a nuclear charge.: This helps to determine the combat capability of weapons and determine their further service life.

Spread your wings: Putin announced the completion of tests of the Burevestnik missile

The President pointed out the lack of global analogues of new Russian weapons.

• It is already known that the US armed forces will launch Minuteman III missiles without using actual detonation, but will use nuclear weapon components to ensure that they can trigger an atomic explosion. The rocket is scheduled to launch from the Vandenberg Space Military Base in California and reach the Ronald Reagan missile defense test site on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

What is known about the Minuteman III rocket

LGM-30G Minuteman III (MMIII) is an intercontinental ballistic solid—fuel missile capable of carrying a nuclear charge. It is part of the US nuclear triad along with Trident submarine-launched ballistic missiles and long-range nuclear weapons based on strategic bombers. The abbreviation LGM stands for the ability to launch from silo-launched silos, the purpose of attacks on ground targets, and the fact that the missile is guided.

• The missile has a range of 5,218 nautical miles, or 9.6 km, and a speed of Mach 23. The Minuteman III is highly accurate in targeting and is the only American silo-based missile. Currently, the US Armed Forces have 400 missiles stationed at Warren (Wyoming), Malmstrom (Montana) and Minot (North Dakota) air bases.

Atomic evolution: what were the predecessors of the Burevestnik and Poseidon

They have been trying to create nuclear-powered systems since the middle of the last century

• The missile entered service with the United States in the 1960s and is constantly being upgraded. The new versions feature enhanced targeting capabilities, higher accuracy, and longer service life. Regular missile tests are carried out without the use of a nuclear charge to ensure the accuracy and reliability of weapons stored in warehouses.

• The last test launch of the Minuteman III rocket was conducted by the United States on May 21 at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The rocket should be replaced by the new LGM-35A Sentinel system, which began development in 2020. But the modernization of weapons is being postponed due to the high cost of the Sentinel program, which significantly "exceeded the basic cost estimate" — by 81%, with an acceptable 25%.

Russian analogues

• Russian weapons systems are significantly superior in their capabilities to American weapons. Experts call the Russian Yars mobile and silo-based strategic missile system the closest weapon to the Minuteman III missiles. The solid-fuel ICBMs of the same name have higher speed and accuracy than American missiles.

• In the future, Sarmat missile systems will be put on combat duty, which are significantly superior to the Minuteman III in range, speed and number of warheads in the separable warhead. The Sarmat liquid orbital ICBM can be a carrier of the Avangard hypersonic block, which has a speed of Mach 27 — currently there are no missile defense systems capable of intercepting it.

During the preparation of the material, Izvestia interviewed:

• military expert Yuri Knutov;
• military expert, Head of the Department of Political Analysis and Socio-Psychological Processes at the Russian University of Economics. Plekhanov by Andrey Koshkin.