US Conducts Successful ICBM Intercept Test With Eye on North Korea

The U.S. tested its defenses against a simulated intercontinental ballistic missile at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California Tuesday.

The U.S. fired off an interceptor at an ICBM target, Reuters reports. The Missile Defense Agency reports that the test was successful, meaning that the U.S. ground-based midcourse defense (GMD) system was able to shoot down a mock warhead fired from the Reagan Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific.

“This was the first live-fire test event against an ICBM-class target for GMD and the U.S. ballistic missile defense system,” MDA reported in a statement announcing the successful intercept.

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The intercept of a complex, threat-representative ICBM target is an incredible accomplishment for the GMD system and a critical milestone for this program,” MDA Director Vice Adm. Jim Syring said in a statement. “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.”

The missile defense shield has a spotty record, as only nine of the 17 tests have been successful, reports USA Today. (Read more from “US Conducts Successful ICBM Intercept Test With Eye on North Korea” HERE) http://joemiller.us/2017/05/us-conducts-successful-icbm-intercept-test-with-eye-on-nort