The last three weeks has seen a surge in testing of American nuclear weapon systems, accompanied by carefully released photos on social media. The tests and pictures appear calculated to drive home one point: The Cold War may have ended 24 years ago, but America's nuclear weapons still work.

On October 21, a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in in Southern California. The missile , launched by crews from the 90th Missile Wing at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming, delivered a re-entry test vehicle to Kwajalein Atoll 4,200 miles away.

On November 3, 2015, a pair of B-52H bombers flew from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana to Spain, where they participated in a maritime strike scenario exercise. Although the mission simulated a conventional strike, the B-52H has the ability to drop nuclear bombs.

On November 7, a Trident II D-5 submarine-launched ballistic missile launched from the Pacific Missile Test Center in Southern California, also at Kwajalein Atoll. This launch from the nuclear submarine USS Kentucky was seen up and down the West Coast, as far as Arizona and San Francisco, and widely photographed and shared on social media. Five members of Congress were on board to observe the launch. On November 9 a second Trident was launched from Pacific Missile Test Center.

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Messaging? @US_Stratcom releases photo of nuclear cruise missiles being loaded onto B-52 bomber at yearlong drill pic.twitter.com/AksKeN6ew6 — Marcus Weisgerber (@MarcusReports) November 10, 2015

The latest item is the photograph you see above. It was shared on Twitter by DefenseOne reporter Marcus Weisgerber, who reports that the image, recently released by U.S. Strategic Command, shows Air Force crews loading nuclear-capable cruise missiles onto a B-52H bomber.

There you have it: All three legs of America's nuclear "triad"—land, sea, and air-based nukes—have been doing some stretches in the past three weeks. Officially, the nuclear tests were part of a continuing effort to make sure America's nuclear delivery systems are reliable and accurate, which is important since both the Minuteman and Trident III are decades old. But if you consider the B-52 mission, whose 26-hour round-trip to Spain reflects the same amount of time required to fly deep into Russia and back, the message is unmistakeable. And note that the Trident tests came on the heels of a Russian nuclear war game in late October that featured two submarine-launched nuclear missiles, a land-based ICBM, and air-launched cruise missiles from Tu-160 "Blackjack" bombers. The wargames exercised Russia's own triad.

The U.S. military clearly noticed—and wanted to make sure Russia noticed its response. The first Trident II launch occurred during evening commute hours in Southern California, which virtually guaranteed the public would see it. The Minuteman III test occurred at 5:45 AM on the West Coast, which was 4:00 PM the same day in Moscow. Both launches probably were meant to generate publicity—in their own way—that would make its way back to Putin.

Either that, or America really doesn't like Kwajalein Atoll.

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