[AP/Yonhap News Photo]
The United States successfully carried out its first-ever test to shoot down an intercontinental ballistic missile, the Pentagon said, as it steps up efforts to defend better against growing missile threats from North Korea.
"The US Missile Defense Agency ... today successfully intercepted an intercontinental ballistic missile target during a test of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) element of the nation's ballistic missile defense system," the Defense Department said in a statement.
It was the first live-fire test against an ICBM-class target for the US ballistic missile defense system.
"The intercept of a complex, threat-representative ICBM target is an incredible accomplishment for the GMD system and a critical milestone for this program," Missile Defense Agency Director Vice Admiral Jim Syring said.
"This system is vitally important to the defense of our homeland, and this test demonstrates that we have a capable, credible deterrent against a very real threat. I am incredibly proud of the warfighters who executed this test and who operate this system every day," he said.
During the test over the Pacific, an ICBM-class target was fired from the test site in the Marshall Islands and a ground-based interceptor was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, and its exo-atmospheric kill vehicle "intercepted and destroyed the target in a direct collision," the statement said.
(Yonhap)
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
