WASHINGTON - A US interceptor shot down another missile in space in a high-stakes test of a shield built to thwart growing capabilities of countries like North Korea and Iran.
The mission off Hawai'i late on Tuesday was against a medium-range, separating ballistic missile, the Pentagon agency responsible for it said.
The mock warhead split from the target's booster section, presenting what is supposed to be a more realistic attack scenario. "Initial indications are that all components performed as designed resulting in a very accurate intercept," the Missile Defense Agency, or MDA, said in a statement Wednesday.
Richard Lehner, an agency spokesman, declined to say whether the drill incorporated decoys or other so-called countermeasures of the type an enemy likely would use to confuse the defence.