The US Air Force confirmed to Reuters on Friday that it canceled a test of the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile system to abate tensions relating to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The test had been scheduled for March 2nd, but postponed with the buildup of Russian troops along the Ukrainian border and the subsequent invasion so as to not stoke Russian aggression more. It has now been canceled.
“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 Jeffrey Lewis, a missile researcher at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), adding the Minuteman III was extremely reliable.