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The
test, scheduled well in advance, was done from the USS John Paul
Jones and comes a day after North Korea fired a ballistic
missile over Japan.
The test, using Standard Missile-6 guided missiles, intercepted
a medium-range ballistic missile target.
North Korea said its missile launch was to counter U.S. and
South Korean military drills, and was a first step in military
action in the Pacific to "contain" the U.S. territory of Guam.
The launch was condemned by the United Nations as an
"outrageous" act.
The MDA said the test gives the naval component of the missile
defense system higher ability to intercept ballistic missiles in
their terminal phase.
Japan has been worried that the United States has so far
declined to arm it with a powerful new radar, Reuters reported
on Wednesday.
Japan is seeking a land-based version of the Aegis ballistic
missile defense system, operational by 2023, as a new layer of
defense to help counter North Korea's missile advances.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb
Chakrabarty)
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