The US Air Force successfully launched an unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California yesterday at 7:10PM AEST, 2:10AM local time. The missile test, conducted with a Minuteman III, comes on the heels of North Korea’s second successful test of an ICBM.
An unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile launched this morning at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California (US Air Force photo by Senior Airman Ian Dudley/Released)
The Air Force insists that the missile test has nothing to do with North Korea, but virtually every missile test over the coming months will be viewed through that lens, as things become more heated between the US and the Korean dictatorship. North Korea is certainly paying close attention to every single test.
The missile travelled roughly 6760km to the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, according to an Air Force press release issued last night. It was the fourth test of a Minuteman III in 2017, with previous tests occurring in February, April and May.
“This operational test launch highlights the commitment and outstanding professionalism of the 90th Missile Wing, the 576th Flight Test Squadron and our mission partners in the 30th Space Wing,” said Col. Dave Kelley, 576th Flight Test Squadron commander in a statement.
GIF produced by Gizmodo from an Air Force video of a Minuteman III being launched in the early morning (GIF made from YouTube video)
“These test launches required the highest-degree of technical competence and commitment at every level and provide critical data necessary to validate the reliability, accuracy and performance of the ICBM force,” Kelly continued.
The US Air Force has released video of the launch.
The Trump regime has sent mixed messages to North Korea in recent days, as has been the case whenever the president’s message on Twitter conflicts with more diplomatic minds in the government.
President Donald Trump has said that he’s “very disappointed” in China’s inability to curb the development of North Korea’s weapons program, and UN ambassador Nikki Haley has said that the US is “done talking about North Korea”.
I am very disappointed in China. Our foolish past leaders have allowed them to make hundreds of billions of dollars a year in trade, yet…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2017
…they do NOTHING for us with North Korea, just talk. We will no longer allow this to continue. China could easily solve this problem!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2017
But that rhetoric contradicts somewhat the more nuanced talking points coming from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who insisted that the United States isn’t seeking regime change in North Korea.
“We’re not your enemy,” Tillerson said during a press conference at the State Department yesterday. It was his first such press conference at the department since taking office.
“We do not seek a regime change, we do not seek the collapse of the regime, we do not seek an accelerated reunification of the peninsula, we do not seek an excuse to send our military north of the 38th parallel,” said Tillerson in what could be viewed as a softening stance.
The most recent North Korean ICBM test showed a capability for the country to potentially hit targets throughout the US, including major cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago and New York. But there’s broad consensus among experts that North Korea hasn’t developed the technology to miniaturise nuclear material so that it can fit on a missile with that kind of range.
Most experts on the region agree that North Korea is still one to two years away from developing that kind of tech, but the question for current policymakers is what to do about it. Any bombing by US or South Korean forces in North Korea would likely be met with a strong show of force by Kim Jong-un’s regime. Even conventional weapons being used by North Korea has the potential to kill scores of people in nearby Seoul, South Korea.
And the fact that the current US president is unquestionably the dumbest leader that America has seen in at least a century doesn’t give many people hope that he’ll choose a course of action that won’t get thousands, if not millions, killed.
US commanders have repeatedly said that there are no good options for what to do about North Korea’s rising nuclear capability. But the big fear is that President Trump could still choose the worst of the admittedly bad options and start a war on the Korean peninsula.