WASHINGTON -- The new SM-3 Block IIA interceptor missile, which was jointly developed by Japan and the United States, successfully intercepted an intercontinental ballistic missile in a test, the Missile Defense Agency of the U.S. Defense Department announced on Tuesday.
The new missile was developed to intercept short- to medium-range ballistic missiles, and this was the first ICBM interception test.
The experiment was conducted Monday night Hawaiian time. A target missile was launched toward waters off Hawaii from a U.S. military facility in the Marshall Islands, an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, and intercepted by a SM-3 Block IIA mounted on a missile destroyer.
The United States has ground-launched ICBM interceptor missiles, but according to some U.S. media reports, this is the first time it has intercepted an ICBM with a missile launched from a ship.
"We have demonstrated that an Aegis BMD (Ballistic Missile Defense)-equipped vessel equipped with the SM-3 Block IIA missile can defeat an ICBM-class target," said Jon Hill, director of the Missile Defense Agency.
Amid growing concern that North Korea could acquire the technology to make nuclear warheads capable of attacking the U.S. mainland, Congress had asked the U.S. government to verify whether it could intercept ICBMs with the SM-3 Block IIA.
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