US military blow up Minuteman III missile due to anomaly

The United States notified Russia of the launch of the Minuteman III missile, the Kremlin said.

"Such launches are naturally subject to notification through appropriate channels. Therefore, we received all necessary notifications, of course,” Kremlin official spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

The Russian side acts similarly, he noted.

Peskov did not comment on the failure of the missile test. "This should not be a topic of our comments,” the Kremlin spokesman said.

The missile test took place on November 1. It was aborted at 12:06 pm Pacific time (22:06 Moscow time) due to an "anomaly,” the US Air Force Global Strike Command said. An anomaly is any unexpected event that may occur during a test. The department did not explain what exactly happened to the missile.

Space Launch Delta safely liquidated Minuteman III ICBM over the Pacific Ocean. The missile was liquidated due to an anomaly during a test launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, Air Force Global Strike Command said.

A special commission will look into the reasons that led to the unsuccessful launch of the intercontinental missile.

In early September, Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder said that the United States warned Russia about testing the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Ryder clarified that it was a routine test that had been planned years in advance.

The Minuteman III missile was developed by Boeing Corporation. It entered into service in 1970. The maximum firing range is 15,000 km. The length of the missile with its warhead exceeds 18 meters. It can carry from one to three warheads with a capacity of 0.3-0.6 Mt.

Russian experts believe that the Minuteman III missile is an outdated weapon. Russia has replaced several generations of ICBMs during those years and started testing a complex with the Sarmat ICBM. Russian specialists also developed the Avangard hypersonic complex.