"This test launch is part of routine and periodic activities intended to demonstrate that the United States' nuclear deterrent is safe, secure, reliable and effective," the US Air Force Global Strike Command said in a statement.

"Such tests have occurred over 300 times before, and this test is not the result of current world events," it added.

The Pentagon said ahead of the early Wednesday launch at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California that the test had been scheduled for years and that Russia's government was informed of the plans.

The Minuteman III has been in service for 50 years, and is currently the only land-based ICBM in the US nuclear arsenal, which also includes Trident submarine-launched ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons carried by strategic bomber aircraft.