A joint team of Air Force Global Strike Command Airmen and Vandenberg Space Force Base Guardians launched an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile equipped with a single telemetered joint test assembly re-entry vehicle Feb.

The Air Force must continue maintaining Minuteman III nuclear missiles longer than expected, with the Sentinel successor requiring a major restructuring.

A Minuteman III missile, equipped with a mock warhead, loudly popped out of its underground silo at Vandenberg Space Force Base early Wednesday morning