To avoid escalation with Russia, Washington announced in advance a test-launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile

The United States announced yesterday that it will test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile today, in an unprecedented advance warning from Washington and aimed at avoiding any escalation of tension with Russia in the midst of the ongoing war in Ukraine.

"This test of an unarmed Minuteman 3 missile will take place tomorrow morning, September 7, at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California," Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder told reporters.

"This is a long-planned, routine test that, like previous tests, will check the system's effectiveness and readiness," he added.

The spokesman pointed out that "the United States notified the Russian government in advance" of this anticipated test.

Usually, the United States does not announce in advance about its ICBM tests.

Minuteman 3 is an intercontinental ballistic missile equipped with a warhead and can carry a nuclear bomb, and the last test was conducted on its launch in mid-August after it was postponed twice.

That test was originally scheduled for March, but the US Air Force postponed it to early August after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, after Washington feared that Moscow would use it as a pretext to expand the conflict to other countries.

The experiment was postponed for the second time after the visit in early August of the US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, the island that Beijing demands to restore.

Finally, the experiment was carried out successfully on August 16.

According to General Ryder, the two experiments were conducted with such a small time difference, it is only a coincidence.

The Minuteman 3, which entered service 50 years ago, is the only surface-to-surface missile in the US nuclear arsenal, since 2005.

The silos for launching this missile are located in three military bases in the United States (Wyoming, North Dakota, and Montana).

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