Despite the success, the $244 million test didn’t confirm that under wartime conditions the U.S. could intercept an intercontinental-range missile fired by North Korea. “In several ways, this test was a $244 million-dollar baby step, a baby step that took three years,” Coyle said. Underscoring its uninterrupted efforts, North Korea on Monday fired a short-range ballistic missile that landed in Japan’s maritime economic zone. In Tuesday’s U.S. test, the Pentagon’s Missile Defence Agency launched an interceptor rocket from an underground silo at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Officially known as the Ground-based Midcourse Defence system, the Pentagon likens the defensive tactic to hitting a bullet with a bullet.

Source: National Post May 31, 2017 14:15 UTC