USA conducts missile defense test on Hawaiian coast amid North Korean tension

Honolulu: The US Missile Defense Agency (US) and Navy successfully conducted a missile defense test off the coast of Hawaii, the missile defense agency said in a statement Wednesday.

The test, scheduled well in advance, was made from the USS John Paul Jones and comes a day after North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan.

The test, using Standard Missile-6 guided missiles, intercepted a medium-range ballistic missile target.

North Korea said its missile launch was to counter US and South Korean military exercises and was the first step in military action in the Pacific to “contain” the US territory of Guam. The launch was condemned by the United Nations as an “outrageous” act.

The MDA said the test gives the naval component of the missile defense system a greater ability to intercept ballistic missiles in its terminal phase.

Japan has been concerned that the United States has so far declined to arm it with a new powerful radar, Reuters reported Wednesday.

Japan is seeking a ground version of Aegis’ ballistic missile defense system, operative in 2023, as a new layer of defense to help counter North Korea’s missile advances