U.S. launches doomsday Minuteman III nuclear-capable missile in dramatic show of force | 21 May 2025 | ​The U.S. Air Force launched a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to anywhere on Earth Wednesday morning — as part of a regular test of the country’s doomsday missiles. The Minuteman III missile was unarmed when it launched from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, the military said. The missile traveled 15,000 miles per hour to a test site in the Marshall Islands 4,200 miles away, officials said. The Minuteman is a 1970-era program that the Air Force plans to replace with the Sentinel system — but that program has been plagued by cutbacks and delays.