VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — The Air Force said Sunday that an unarmed Minuteman 3 missile was launched from California’s central coast in the latest test of the intercontinental system.

The missile blasted off at 11:34 p.m. Saturday from Vandenberg Air Force Base northwest of Los Angeles.

The Air Force said the missile carried a test reentry vehicle that headed for a target area 4,200 miles away in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean.

The Air Force routinely uses Vandenberg to test Minuteman missiles. ‘‘This specific test will provide accuracy and reliability data that is essential to on-going and future modifications to the weapon system, which are key to improving the already impressive effectiveness of the Minuteman III force,’’ Colonel J. Christopher Moss, 30th Space Wing commander, said in a press release.

This test involved personnel from Vandenberg’s 576th Flight Test Squadron, the 625th Strategic Operations Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, and the 91st Missile Wing, Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota.

Last week, the US Naval Institute News reported that, in the next decade, US ships and submarines capable of firing Tomahawk cruise missiles probably will be fitted with a variant specifically designed to hit enemy ships up to 1,000 miles away.

Vice Admiral Joseph Mulloy, deputy chief of naval operations for integration of capabilities and resources, told USNI News Wednesday that surface ships would receive the upgraded missiles first, followed by submarines. The move follows the Navy’s upcoming $434 million budget request that would modify a portion of the current stock of Tomahawks with the ability to strike maritime targets.

Associated Press