An "ICBM-class target" fired toward the U. S. mainland from Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands was destroyed over the Pacific Ocean by an "Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle" (EKV) in a test meant to demonstrate the effectiveness of U.S. anti-ballistic missile defenses.

The target fired from the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, 6,600 km from the mainland, was "successfully intercepted" at 3:30 p.m. ET today by a Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI) launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

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The GBI consists of the boost vehicle (or the rocket itself) and an EKV. The U.S. should have about 44 GBIs deployed by the end of this year. 

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency a few days announced this missile intercept test, which has been compared to bullet hitting a bullet in flight.

Some analysts warned, however, this test was precisely that, a test in which the ICBM target flew along a pre-programmed path known to the operators of the GBI. No such foreknowledge will be available if North Korea launches a nuclear warhead-armed ICBM at the continental U.S.

The successful intercept, however, was welcome propaganda for the U.S. A failure would have been a severe embarrassment and would have emboldened North Korea to stay the course in its nuclear weapons development program.

U.S. anxiety over the outcome of the test is understandable because the EKV has a less than sterling success record.

EKV is saddled with accuracy problems and posted a string of test failures in 2016. In all, the EKV has succeeded in destroying only nine of 17 targets since 1999, a success rate of only 53 percent.

Today's successful intercept raises EKV's success rate to 56 percent, or 10 success in 18 tests. It was the first successful EKV intercept since 2008.

This problem-plagued kill vehicle is due to be replaced by the new Redesigned Kill Vehicle (RKV). The U.S. plans to field the RKV around 2020 and conduct an intercept test for this kill vehicle in 2019.

The U.S. is showing a combination of irritation and concern at North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's persistence in developing an ICBM capable of being armed with a nuclear warhead. Pentagon officials say Kim has ordered his scientists to accelerate the development of a nuclear-armed ICBM.

Kim will eventually succeed if "left unchecked," said U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).

Both the RKV and EKV are ground-based interceptors for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency designed to defend the U.S. mainland against ICBM attacks.

TagsICBM-class target, Kwajalein Atoll, Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle, EKV, Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site