(CNN) -
A Russian military exercise prompted an unusual warning on Saturday at a major US military base in Germany that ballistic missiles had been launched, according to several US defense officials.
The warning at Ramstein Air Force Base resulted in several minutes of uncertainty and alarm until an all-clear signal was given, according to officials.
The initial assessment is that the missile warning may have been triggered when US intelligence satellites detected a launch.
Highly classified US military satellites tracking infrared ballistic missile trail determined that a submerged Russian submarine had fired four ICMs from its underwater location in the Okhotsk Sea off western Russia on Saturday.
The alarm sounded in Germany moments later.
On Monday, a statement from the US military in Europe acknowledged the incident in Ramstein and the surrounding areas where personnel received computerized notifications.
A missile warning was also sounded at Ramstein through a loudspeaker system.
The US military “received an alert through a real-world missile launch warning notification system.
The control center followed the proper procedures and acted in a timely manner to provide prompt and accurate notifications to all required personnel, ”according to the statement.
“No US aircraft or pilots were deployed. The missile launch was determined to be part of a regional training exercise and within minutes the control center was again following proper procedures and providing updated notifications.
We constantly and routinely monitor any threats to our forces and our allies, "said the US Air Force Europe-Army Africa statement.
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Was there a missile launch?
The statement does not acknowledge the Russian missile launch, but various defense officials have confirmed to CNN that it occurred.
One official said the Russians had issued a "notice to airmen" covering a period of days, warning them to stay out of the specific area due to military activity.
This is a normal notification procedure.
The US Strategic Command was able to quickly confirm that the missiles did not pose a threat, so it is unclear why the warning was triggered, authorities said.
One official noted that the incident is concerning because there is always the possibility of a miscalculation given tensions with Russia.
But this time there were no signs of a threat, the official stressed.
After the incident, the US military in Ramstein issued a statement on its Facebook page to the military community in the area.
“Today, the Ramstein Air Base Command Post was notified via an alert notification system of a real-world missile launch in the European theater.
The command post followed proper procedure and provided timely and accurate notifications to personnel from the Kaiserslautern military community.
The missile launch was then evaluated as part of a training exercise and not as a threat to the KMC area.
The situation is clear.
We would like to thank the members of our Command Post for their quick response to ensure that our people are informed so that they can take the proper safety precautions, ”the statement said.
In 2018, human error was blamed for a false alarm about a missile heading for Hawaii.
Missiles