Nuclear missile will test launch overnight in California, Space Force says

The U.S. military will launch an unarmed nuclear missile across the Pacific Ocean overnight Nov. 4, in a pre-planned firing that marks the Pentagon’s first weapons test since President Donald Trump demanded immediate nuclear tests.

According to marine navigational warnings, the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile will strike a test range on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

Although Trump announced last week that he was directing the Pentagon to “immediately” resume nuclear weapons testing, the public affairs office for Vandenberg Space Force Base said the test “is routine and was scheduled years in advance.”

It’s unclear whether Trump was referring to nuclear test explosions, which the Department of Energy traditionally conducts independently of the Pentagon. The president has repeatedly refused to clarify his intent when questioned by reporters. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the new Trump-directed tests will be “noncritical,” meaning that they won’t include an explosive nuclear chain reaction. But noncritical tests already occur regularly.

Additionally, the Pentagon routinely tests unarmed nuclear missiles; the last Minuteman III test occurred in May, and the Navy tested a Trident II submarine-launched ballistic missile in September.

The U.S. maintains a deployed force of 400 Minuteman III missiles in underground silos distributed across Colorado, Nebraska, North Dakota and Wyoming.

Some Minuteman III warheads carry multiple reentry vehicles, which allow each missile to destroy three separate targets. However, those warheads were partially disarmed and reduced to one vehicle as part of the 2014 New START treaty limiting U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons deployments. The treaty expires in February 2026.