US conducts successful missile intercept test amid N. Korea tensions

The US military conducts a successful test of a missile intercept system, officials say, as tensions soar following North Korea’s test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile that could potentially reach Alaska.

The test of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system sees a ballistic missile target air-launched from an Air Force C-17 over the Pacific Ocean north of Hawaii.

“A THAAD weapon system located at (Pacific Spaceport Complex Alaska) in Kodiak, Alaska, detected, tracked and intercepted the target,” the US Missile Defense Agency says in a statement.

THAAD is designed to intercept and destroy short-, medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles during their final phase of flight.

THAAD maker Lockheed Martin says this is the first time the system had intercepted an intermediate-range ballistic missile.

Richard McDaniel, a Lockheed vice president, says in a statement the system performed “flawlessly.”

Though such exercises are planned months in advance, it comes after North Korea’s first-ever test-firing last week of an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching parts of the United States including Alaska.

— AFP