The United States on Tuesday said it had tested an interceptor missile off the coast of California to see if it could block a warhead launched in its direction by North Korea. The Pentagon said a mock intercontinental ballistic missile had been used to test its rocket, and that it was completely destroyed in a direct mid-air collision with the rocket’s “exo-atmospheric kill vehicle”.
The US’ missile was part of its Ground-based Midcourse Defence system. James D. Syring, the director of the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency called Tuesday’s test a “critical milestone” for the country’s missile defence program. The test “demonstrates that we have a capable, credible deterrent against a very real threat,” Syring said.
Only five of the programme’s last 10 tests have been even partially successful in the past 13 years, The New York Times reported. The test comes amid heightened tensions between the US and North Korea, which has been testing its own ballistic missiles with increasing regularity – launching three of them in the last month alone. The US believes North Korea is trying to develop a missile that could reach its western coast.