SAN NICOLAS ISLAND, CALIFORNIA — Washington has conducted its first test of a missile that was previously banned under the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, INF, after the U.S. President Donald Trump's administration formally withdrew from the treaty on August 2.<br /><br />On August 18, the Pentagon conducted a flight test of a conventionally configured ground-launched cruise missile from San Nicolas Island, California.<br /><br />In a statement sent to Newsweek, a Pentagon spokesperson said that the missile "was a variant of the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile."<br /><br />The test missile was launched from a ground mobile launcher and precisely hit its target after flying more than 500 kilometers, according to a news release by the U.S. Department of Defense. <br /><br />The missile used a conventional warhead, not a nuclear warhead, the Associated Press reports, citing the Pentagon. <br /><br />The Tomahawk Land Attack Missile has a range of around 1,600 kilometers, according to the U.S. Navy. <br /><br />The Pentagon said that it intends to begin testing of another non-nuclear ballistic missile with an estimated range of around 3,000 to 4,000 kilometers.<br /><br />The U.S. Department of Defense said in a news release that data collected from this missile test will "inform our development of future intermediate-range capabilities."<br /><br />The Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, or INF, was signed between the Soviet Union and the U.S. 30 years ago. The treaty banned the use of nuclear and non-nuclear missiles between the ranges of 500 and 5,500 kilometers.<br /><br />The U.S. withdrew from the INF nuclear weapons treaty after accusing Russia of violating the treaty by deploying its SSC-8 ground-launched cruise missile, according to CNN.
