The US Defense Department carried out the fourth launch of the Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missile since the beginning of the year in order to verify the reliability of its systems. 

The launch took place from a mine at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, Air Force Times reported. 

“The missile lifted off at 1:13 a.m. Wednesday from the base northwest of Los Angeles and sent a test reentry vehicle on a 4,200-mile (6,760-kilometer) flight over the Pacific Ocean to the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands,” the source noted.