The Department of Defense conducted a cruise missile test Sunday at San Nicolas Island in Ventura County.
The island, located south of Channel Islands National Park, is controlled by the United States Navy.
The test missile exited its ground mobile launcher and accurately impacted its target after more than 500 kilometers of flight, according to a Department of Defense news release.
It was described as a “conventionally-configured ground-launched cruise missile.”
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation spokeswoman Sandy Jones said the missile test would have been banned under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty recently terminated under the Trump administration. The United States and Russia withdrew from the treaty on Aug. 2. In 2018, President Donald Trump claimed Russia was already breaching the treaty. According to a BBC report, then- President Barack Obama made a similar allegation in 2014.
“Yesterday, I spent a peaceful, beautiful afternoon at the beach in Santa Barbara, celebrating a friend’s birthday. The only defense we needed was some sunscreen and a beach umbrella,” wrote Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Deputy Director Rick Wayman in a statement.
“I was appalled to learn that, just miles from our family’s tranquil celebration, the U.S. took a dangerous and ill-advised leap forward in its arms race with Russia.”
