April 26 (UPI) -- An intercontinental ballistic missile was test-launched off the California coast Wednesday in what the U.S. Air Force called a show of nuclear deterrent capability.
The Minuteman III missile, equipped with a non-explosive payload of flight data, left Vandenberg Air Force Base in California from a Navy jet shortly after midnight. The launch cast a light over the California coast as the missile traveled 4,200 miles westward to a test range in the Marshall Islands' Kwajalein Atoll, and was declared a success by the USAF 30th Space Wing, which supervised the launch.