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Air Force Plans Missile Test Launch From Santa Barbara County This Week

(Photo by Air Force Airman First Class Ian Dudley)
An October, 2015 Minuteman III launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base

The Air Force is planning the test launch of a missile from the Central Coast this week.

Vandenberg Air Force Base officials are planning to send up an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile sometime late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning.

Depending on the weather, it could be visible throughout the Central and South Coasts.

The launch window is from 11:25 p.m. Tuesday to 5:25 a.m. Wednesday. It would be the latest in an ongoing series of test launches that Air Force officials say allow them to test the readiness of equipment and crews.

The test launches have been taking place for years, but have created additional interest recently because of tension with North Korea over its nuclear weapons development and missile testing programs.

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. 
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