Pentagon cancels ICBM test due to Russia nuclear tensions

The US military has canceled a planned test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile, weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin put Russia’s nuclear deterrence forces on “high alert.”

The US Air Force told Reuters that on Friday the Pentagon canceled the Minuteman III test that it had initially aimed only to delay in a bid to lower nuclear tensions with Russia during the war in Ukraine.

The US military first announced a delay of the test on March 2 after Russia said it was putting its nuclear forces on high alert. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at the time it was important for both the United States and Russia "bear in mind the risk of miscalculation and take steps to reduce those risks."

But it said it would delay the test "a little bit," and not cancel it.

Air Force spokesperson Ann Stefanek said the decision to cancel the test of the LGM-30G Minuteman III missile was to avoid any possible misunderstanding in light of Russia’s decision to put its nuclear forces on higher alert. The next Minuteman III test is scheduled to take place later this year.

"The Air Force is confident in the readiness of the strategic forces of the United States," Stefanek said.

Jeffrey Lewis, a missile researcher at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), played down the impact of the cancelation.

"There's a value to doing the tests but I don't think missing one test in the grand scheme of things is a really big deal," said Lewis, adding the Minuteman III was extremely reliable.

In response to aggressive statements by NATO’s leading members, Putin said on February 27 that he had ordered “the deterrence forces of the Russian army to a special mode of combat duty.”

Since then, Russia’s nuclear submarines and mobile missile launchers reportedly staged drills and units of Moscow’s Strategic Missile Forces dispersed intercontinental ballistic missile launchers in forests in eastern Siberia to practice secret deployment.

The US and its NATO allies have failed to raise their own nuclear alert levels in response to Russia’s action.  

“Now, in this time of heightened tensions, the United States and other members of the international community rightly saw this as a dangerous and irresponsible and, as I've said before, an unnecessary step,” Kirby said. 

“We recognize at this moment of tension how critical it is that both the United States and Russia bear in mind the risk of miscalculation and take steps to reduce those risks.”

The Pentagon spokesman claimed that the missile test is not canceled and the US military is “just moving it to the right a little bit.”

Analyst: Pentagon appears blind to the threat of nuclear war with Russia

The US military is “filled with delusional hubris, blinding it to the actual danger of nuclear war,” according to an American journalist and political analyst.

The US military is “filled with delusional hubris, blinding it to the actual danger of nuclear war,” said an American journalist and political analyst, after Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby stated that there was  “clear evidence” that the Russian military is conducting war crimes in its military campaign in Ukraine.

 “To me,” said Don Debar, “what's scary is that, by having such a hack as its face, the Pentagon is signaling that it is as filled with delusional hubris, blinding it to the actual danger of nuclear war, as the maniacs in Congress and the dementia patient in the White House.”

“The Pentagon press room is already filled with laptop warriors from the US media who are ready to fight Russia from their desks. That the guy at the podium is mouthing the same idiocies does not bode well for humanity,” DeBar told Press TV.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk