US military successfully tests missile interceptors

The US military said on Monday it had successfully tested an anti-intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) system, with a target launched from the Marshall Islands shot down by two interceptors based in California.

To protect against the threat from ICBMs, the US has developed the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system, which is designed to fire an interceptor missile into space and use kinetic energy to destroy the incoming target.

It was a critical test of US missile defences against adversaries such as North Korea.

The goal was to create a scenario in which the US would fire multiple defensive missiles rapidly if an enemy had initiated a missile launch at the US. Monday's test was to ensure that if multiple missiles were in the air, the sensors of the US ground-based interceptors would be able to distinguish the enemy's incoming missiles from other missiles and electronic clutter in the environment.

The first ground-based interceptor that was launched destroyed the re-entry vehicle on the mock adversary missile, as it was designed to do. Then the second ground-based interceptor's sensors tracked the resulting debris and remaining objects. As expected, it did not sense any adversary warhead, so it struck the next "most lethal object" it could identify, as designed.

The head of the Missile Defense Agency, Air Force Lieutenant General Samuel Greaves, called the test a "critical milestone."

"The system worked exactly as it was designed to do, and the results of this test provide evidence of the practical use of the salvo doctrine within missile defence.

The GMD system "is vitally important to the defence of our homeland, and this test demonstrates that we have a capable, credible deterrent against a very real threat," he said.

The United States has spent decades and billions of dollars developing technologies to stop an incoming ballistic missile and is aiming to step up efforts in the face of growing threats.