Minuteman Missile Failure Draws Russian Mockery of US Nuclear Arsenal

The U.S. Air Force's termination of an unarmed LGM-30G Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) over the Pacific Ocean had prompted mockery from sources in Russia, where major weapons tests have just taken place.

There are around 400 of the nuclear-capable Minuteman ICBM at U.S. Air Force bases in Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota. They form a key part of the U.S. military's arsenal, making up one leg of the U.S. nuclear deterrent triad.

First deployed in 1970, the missile has a range of over 6,000 miles and can travel at a speed of about 15,000 miles per hour. The U.S. regularly tests them to check their reliability. Air Force Global Strike Command said in a statement that Space Launch Delta 30 "safely terminated" the missile just after midnight on Wednesday "due to an anomaly" during a test launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

The statement said there are lessons learned from every test launch and that "since anomalies may arise from many factors...careful analysis is needed to identify the cause."

The defense publication The War Zone said that the launch failure "is concerning" and there are "no clear indications" yet as to what caused the problems. One observer on the ground captured an image of what looked like "an unusual upswing in the trajectory of the missile" following launch, which could have been linked to the failure.

X (formerly Twitter) user M51.4ever, which posts about strategic systems, shared a graphic of the launch, writing there was an "uncontrolled descent of the 1st stage after jettison."

M51.4ever told Newsweek that the Minuteman III "despite being very old, remains a reliable system. The last inflight failure was in 2018, and there had been 16 consecutive successful launches until yesterday."

"Despite the test being described as 'operational test launch,' it is also worth noting that they might have tried something new, like a non-standard trajectory or new equipment, maybe for the Sentinel," which is the successor to the Minuteman III, they said.

"This is an unfortunate failure, but it does not raise major concerns on the reliability of Minuteman III. And even if it were the case, most of U.S. nuclear warheads are mounted on Trident II D5 SLBM, also very reliable, so U.S. deterrence is safe."

In May 2021, the Air Force disclosed that it had aborted another routine test launch with the missile still on the ground for unspecified reasons. Before that, in 2018, the flight of another LGM-30G was terminated over the Pacific.

The Kremlin said it had been informed of Wednesday's test launch ahead of time. While it has not commented on it, Russian media outlets reported the American failure was notable. Military expert Alexei Leonkov told RIA Novosti the U.S. is "launching old missiles that have already exceeded their planned service life."

The Telegram account of Yadernih Burevestnik said that the failure was "really unusual" and will probably be used to "confirm the need to intensify the modernization of the (nuclear) triad."

The Telegram account Russian Engineer posted, "very serious news about the state of US nuclear forces." Another failure like the one this week "could call into question the entire Minuteman silo missile."

The post added that the U.S. has no missiles in production, "only projects," meaning that "the main burden of nuclear deterrence will fall on 14 Ohio-class submarines with Trident missiles."

Mikhail Sheinkman, a columnist for state-run news agency Sputnik, mocked the age of the missile, although noted it is "significantly younger than Joe Biden."

"By military-technical standards, if an ICBM is already over 50, then this is also too old," Sheinkman wrote, and referring to the language used by the U.S. Air Force, added, "The main anomaly still lives in the White House."

The Drive reported there are plans to replace these missiles with new LGM-35A Sentinel ICBMs, which are expected to be operational in the next decade. Newsweek reached out to the Air Force Global Strike Command for comment.

It comes amid growing tensions with Moscow which has upped its nuclear rhetoric since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. On Thursday, Russia revoked its ratification of the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), which outlawed nuclear explosions, including live tests of nuclear weapons.

The Kremlin said last month it had successfully fired a Yars intercontinental ballistic missile, launched a ballistic missile from a nuclear-powered submarine from the Barents Sea, and test-fired cruise missiles from Tu-95MS long-range bombers.

However, Russia has had its own problems with missile tests. The independent Russian news outlet Sirena reported on Wednesday that at least six missile tests have been unsuccessful since June 30.

The tests involved Russia's next-generation "Poseidon" nuclear-capable torpedo, its Sarmat weaponry, its Yars intercontinental ballistic missile, and the Bulava, an intercontinental-range, submarine-launched ballistic missile.