Nuclear Age Peace Foundation

Tag: Missile Test

  • U.S. Launches Minuteman III Missile Test Just Four Weeks After the Last Test

    U.S. Launches Minuteman III Missile Test Just Four Weeks After the Last Test

    For Immediate Release

    Contact: Sandy Jones  (805) 965-3443; sjones@napf.org

    Rick Wayman  (805) 696-5159; rwayman@napf.org

    SANTA BARBARA, CA– Early this morning, for the second time in less than a month, a Minuteman III missile was tested during a launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base.

    Less than a month ago on August 4th, just two days prior to the 75th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the U.S. Air Force launched a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base, which was loaded with three mock nuclear warheads.

    Rick Wayman, CEO of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, a non-profit based in Santa Barbara committed to the abolition of nuclear weapons and solving the most dangerous technological, social, and psychological issues of our time, commented on the close succession of missile tests by saying, “Less than one month ago, while the U.S. was launching a missile test, the majority of the world was solemnly remembering the 75th anniversaries of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and vowing that such a catastrophe will never happen again. Wednesday’s test, combined with the three-warhead missile test last month, appear to be in preparation for the expiration of New START in February when limits on deployed strategic nuclear weapons will be lifted and the U.S. will be able to put multiple nuclear warheads back on each Minuteman missile.”

    Wayman went on to say, “The unnecessarily provocative tests by the U.S. is an important reminder that the nuclear threat remains very real. We have decision makers who are willing and able to escalate nuclear threats even further by putting multiple warheads back on ICBMs – something that has not been done for decades.”

    #                                         #                                         #

    If you would like to interview Rick Wayman, please call (805) 965-3443 or (805) 696-5159.

    The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s mission is to educate and train people of all ages and backgrounds to solve the most dangerous technological, social, and psychological issues of our time, and to survive and thrive in the 21st century. The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation is a non-partisan, non-profit organization with consultative status to the United Nations. For more information, visit wagingpeace.org and peaceliteracy.org.

  • Minuteman III Missile Test Launched from Vandenberg

    Minuteman III Missile Test Launched from Vandenberg

    For Immediate Release

    Contact:
    Sandy Jones: (805) 965-3443; sjones@napf.org
    Rick Wayman: (805) 696-5159; rwayman@napf.org

     

    Minuteman III Missile Test Launched from Vandenberg Early Tuesday Morning

    Less than two months ago, U.S. and North Korea held a summit, jointly committing to North Korea’s denuclearization. What kind of message does missile test send?

    Vandenberg–The U.S. is scheduled to test a Minuteman III Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) carrying a mock nuclear warhead early Tuesday morning between 12:01 a.m. and 6:01 a.m. from Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc, California. This particular test is just a month-and-half after the high-stakes summit between the U.S. and North Korea, in which Trump and Kim Jong-un signed a vaguely-worded statement, agreeing to  “work toward complete denuclearization on the Korean peninsula.”

    What kind of message is the U.S. sending to North Korea with this missile test? Rick Wayman, Deputy Director of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, noted, “This is the same class of missiles for which the U.S. has been highly critical of the North Koreans for developing and testing. How can the United States demand North Korea’s good faith on denuclearization while the U.S. continues its own ICBM testing? The hypocrisy is nothing new, but what stands out with this test is the potential for blowing up the peace process underway with North Korea.”

    It is widely recognized that the path to North Korean denuclearization will be anything but smooth. In fact, after Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, went to Pyongyang to continue negotiations after the June summit, North Korea criticized the U.S. for having a stance that was “… regrettable, gangster-like and cancerous.”

    David Krieger, President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, commented, “With its continuing missile tests, the U.S. is itself doing what it seeks to stop other countries from doing. If the U.S. were serious about achieving global denuclearization, it would be showing leadership toward that end. Instead, it continues to test its nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles. Hypocrisy will never achieve the desired goal of a nuclear weapons-free world.”                                           

                                                                                                     #        #         #

    If you would like to interview David Krieger, President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation or Rick Wayman, Deputy Director, please call the Foundation at (805) 965-3443. 

    The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s mission is to educate and advocate for peace and a world free of nuclear weapons and to empower peace leaders. Founded in 1982, the Foundation is comprised of individuals and organizations worldwide who realize the imperative for peace in the Nuclear Age. The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation is a non-partisan, non-profit organization with consultative status to the United Nations. For more information, visit wagingpeace.org.

  • U.S. Schedules Minuteman III Missile Test: Timing is Everything

    For Immediate Release

    Contact:     
    Rick Wayman
    (805) 965-3443 or (805) 696-5159
    rwayman@napf.org

    Santa Barbara – The U.S. is set to launch a Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California to Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The launch is scheduled to take place in the early morning hours of Tuesday, September 23.

    The launch comes at a time of heightened tension between the U.S. and Russia over Ukraine and NATO expansion. It also comes two days after the International Day of Peace (Sept. 21) and three days before the official UN Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons (Sept. 26). Clearly this timing is meant to send a message and it is not a message of peace.

    Though the Air Force Global Strike Command contends that the ICBM test launch program is to validate and verify the effectiveness, readiness and accuracy of the weapon system, this test is yet another example of the continuation of decades of psychological and physical terror the U.S. has imposed upon the people of the Marshall Islands.

    Between the years of 1946 and 1958, the United States tested 67 nuclear weapons in the Marshall Islands resulting in immeasurable suffering and emotional physical trauma to the islanders. In April of this year, the Marshall Islands filed the Nuclear Zero Lawsuits against the U.S. and the eight other nuclear-armed nations, challenging them to fulfill their moral and legal obligations to begin negotiations to reach nuclear zero. For more information on the Nuclear Zero Lawsuits visit nuclearzero.org.

    David Krieger, President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (NAPF) and a consultant to the Marshall Islands on the Nuclear Zero Lawsuits, commented, “The officials at Vandenberg say the purpose of the test is to ‘validate and verify the effectiveness, readiness and accuracy of the weapons system.’ This means the effectiveness, readiness and accuracy of a weapons system capable of destroying civilization. The Air Force is only doing its job: practicing for the destruction of the human species. Instead of launching missiles we should be leading negotiations to rid the world of weapons of mass annihilation.”

    Further, Rick Wayman, Director of Peace Operations at NAPF stated, “That the U.S. has chosen this week to test – at a time of heightened tensions with Russia and the one day of the year dedicated to the total abolition of nuclear weapons – says it all. Instead of taking seriously its international legal obligations to negotiate for nuclear disarmament, the U.S. seems content to engage in a tit-for-tat nuclear arms race with Russia. This Minuteman III test is nothing more than the flexing of a horribly dangerous, unusable and totally unnecessary muscle.”

    #   #   #

    For further information, or if you would like to interview David Krieger, contact Rick Wayman at rwayman@napf.org or call (805) 696-5159.

    The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation – NAPF’s mission is to educate and advocate for peace and a world free of nuclear weapons and to empower peace leaders.  Founded in 1982, the Foundation is comprised of individuals and organizations worldwide who realize the imperative for peace in the Nuclear Age. The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation is a non-partisan, non-profit organization with consultative status to the United Nations.  For more information, visit www.wagingpeace.org.