The U.S. Missile Defense Agency and the Navy successfully conducted a missile defense test off the coast of Hawaii, MDA said in a statement on Wednesday.
The test, scheduled well in advance, was done from the USS John Paul Jones and comes a day after North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan.
The test, using Standard Missile-6 guided missiles, intercepted a medium-range ballistic missile target.
North Korea said its missile launch was to counter U.S. and South Korean military drills, and was a first step in military action in the Pacific to “contain” the U.S. territory of Guam. The launch was condemned by the United Nations as an “outrageous” act.
The MDA said the test gives the naval component of the missile defense system higher ability to intercept ballistic missiles in their terminal phase.
Japan has been worried that the United States has so far declined to arm it
