On May 30, the US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and the United States Air Force successfully tested the Homeland Missile Defense System, shooting down an intercontinental ballistic missile in the first "live fire" test of the system's Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) element. The GMD consists of a land-based, fire-control system and interceptor missiles designed to strike ICBMs in flight outside the atmosphere. The interceptor missile was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, and it destroyed an "ICBM-class target" launched from the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The ICBM was tracked by multiple radars, including the Sea-Based X-Band Radar, a giant radome mounted aboard a "semi-submersible" platform that resembles a giant self-propelled oil rig.

"The intercept of a complex, threat-representative ICBM target is an incredible accomplishment for the GMD system and a critical milestone for this program," said MDA Director Vice Adm. Jim Syring in an official statement. "This system is vitally important to the defense of our homeland, and this test demonstrates that we have a capable, credible deterrent against a very real threat."

Based on intelligence estimates of the progress of North Korea and Iran's missile programs, GMD and other systems put the US at least three years ahead of the potential ballistic missile threats from those two countries, Syring said in a press briefing May 31. "I was confident before the test that we had the capability to defeat any threat that they would throw at us," he said. "The interceptor that we flew yesterday certainly keeps pace with—and I would actually say helps us outpace—the threat through 2020.”

The test came two days after North Korea tested another ballistic missile, which landed within Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone. North Korea claimed the missile was a test of a maneuverable reentry vehicle capable of a precision strike. KCNA, the North Korean state news agency, claimed that the reentry vehicle landed within 23 feet of its intended target. The claim has been disputed by a number of observers. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Monday that "working with the United States, we will take specific action to deter North Korea."

Listing image by Missile Defense Agency