Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Air Force conducts intercontinental ballistic missile test from the Central Coast

A rocket arcs across a night sky, with the launch pad visible at the bottom.
Sgt. Joshua LeRoi
/
U.S. Air Force
An unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile test-launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base Tuesday night.

An ICBM launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base Tuesday night, in what officials say was a routine test, and not related to the recent war in Iran.

The Air Force conducted a missile test from the Central Coast Tuesday night, launching an unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile.

The Minuteman III rocket lifted off from the Central Coast at 11:01 p.m. The missile and its two mock warheads traveled to predetermined targets in the South Pacific about 4,200 miles away.

Air Force officials say the test had been on the calendar for years and was not related to the recent war in Iran.

ICBMs are periodically test-launched from the base to test equipment and crew readiness. More than 300 of the missiles have been test-launched over the decades.

The launch was visible in much of the western United States.

Lance Orozco has been News Director of KCLU since 2001, providing award-winning coverage of some of the biggest news events in the region, including the Thomas and Woolsey brush fires, the deadly Montecito debris flow, the Borderline Bar and Grill attack, and Ronald Reagan's funeral.