PressTV-US military successfully tests anti-ballistic missile

The US military says it has successfully tested a key missile system off the west coast of Hawaii, shooting down a medium-range ballistic missile.

On Friday, sailors aboard the USS John Finn successfully detected, tracked and targeted the rocket with an SM-3 Block IIA missile, the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) said.

The missile, which is part of the Aegis system, is designed to increase the US military’s capacity to knock down intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The new system is being developed in a joint venture between arms giant Raytheon and Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.

In January, the MDA said the US had spent about $2.2 billion on the system, while Japan spent around $1 billion. However, it did not immediately confirm if those figures had gone up.

This test comes after two failed intercept tests, in June 2017 and January 2018, and one successful one in February 2017.

MDA Director Lieutenant General Sam Greaves said,…

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