Story highlights US, Japan have jointly developed new missile interceptor

Pacific allies fear North Korean missile program

(CNN) The US and Japan have passed a crucial test for missile defense, shooting down a medium-range ballistic missile with a new interceptor launched from a guided-missile destroyer.

The US Missile Defense Agency announced that the USS John Paul Jones detected, tracked and took out the target ballistic missile using its onboard Aegis Missile Defense System and a Standard Missile-3 Block IIA interceptor.

The test took place Friday night off the Hawaiian island of Kauai.

The USS John Paul Jones launches a ballistic missile interceptor on February 3, 2017, off Hawaii.

"Today's test demonstrates a critical milestone in the cooperative development of the SM-3 Block IIA missile," the director of the Missile Defense Agency, Vice Adm. Jim Syring, said in a statement.

"The missile, developed jointly by a Japanese and US government and industry team, is vitally important to both our nations and will ultimately improve our ability to defend against increasing ballistic missile threats around the world."

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