US missile defense system successfully hits simulated enemy missile

The U.S. successfully conducted a test of its Ballistic Missile Defense System on Sunday in a joint military exercise, the Pentagon said.

A number of U.S. government and military defense agencies participated in the test, including the Missile Defense Agency, the Air Force 30th Space Wing, U.S. Northern Command, the Army and the Navy.

The test involved a US long-range, ground-based interceptor launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California which successfully hit a simulated enemy missile launched from a test site on the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. They collided over the Pacific Ocean.

The Pentagon was quoted by CNN as saying the test was the 65th successful hit-to-kill intercept out of 81 attempts since 2001.

According to Reuters however the exercise was the first successful intercept test of the program since 2008. Critics say that the interceptor kill vehicle used in Sunday's test has only succeeded in one of three tries, and urge the Congress to rethink the plan to buy 14 more interceptors at a cost of $75 million each, or just over $1 billion.

The US Missile Defense Agency said the test represented a very important step in increasing the reliability of the U.S. ballistic missile defense system and that the agency will continue its ongoing efforts to ensure the efficacy of the ground-based interceptors and overall homeland defense system.