US tests shooting down ballistic missile in message to North Korea
After the provocative ballistic missile test launched over Japan, US retaliates by successfully shooting down a medium-range ballistic missile over Hawaii, after a previous attempt failed; Director of American Missile Defense Agency: US to continue 'staying ahead of threats.'
The US military shot down a medium-range ballistic missile during a test off Hawaii late Tuesday, officials said.
The Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai Island launched the target missile, while sailors aboard the destroyer USS John Paul Jones tracked it with radar and fired an interceptor missile to shoot it down.
The test comes amid North Korea's ballistic missile tests and rising tensions between the US and the North. Earlier Tuesday, North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan, a close US ally, which landed in the Pacific Ocean. US President Donald Trump said "all options are on the table" in response to the test.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for more weapons launches targeting the Pacific Ocean to advance his country's ability to contain the US territory of Guam, which is home to key US military bases.
The Hawaii test gives Navy ships enhanced capability to defeat ballistic missiles in their last stage of flight, said Lt. Gen. Sam Greaves, the director of the Missile Defense Agency.
"We will continue developing ballistic missile defense technologies to stay ahead of the threat as it evolves," he said in a statement.
The destroyer fired a Standard Missile-6 or SM-6 interceptor. It's the second time that particular type of missile has successfully intercepted a medium-range ballistic missile target, the agency said.
In June, the John Paul Jones failed to shoot down its target missile in a similar test off Hawaii. A Standard Missile-3 Block IIA jointly developed by the US and Japan failed to intercept its target. An earlier test of the same interceptor in February succeeded.
Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe spoke by telephone on Wednesday and confirmed their "continuing, close cooperation" to address North Korea's launch of the ballistic missile that flew over Japan, the White House said.
Reuters contributed to this report.
