The Department of Defense's Missile Defense Agency is planning to test the nation's missile shield next week, the agency said Friday.

Officials will test the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense, part of the ballistic missile defense system, which is designed to track and intercept an incoming long-range ballistic missile from a hostile country while it's in space.

The agency will launch a "threat-representative" intercontinental ballistic missile from a test site on the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands and a ground-based interceptor from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Officials familiar with the preparations told the Washington Examiner earlier this week they're confident the interceptor launched from California will successfully intercept the missile.

The U.S. last tested its ground-based system in 2014.

The Pentagon initially said the test had been a success, but the system failed to shoot the mock missile.

Since then, a number of changes have been made to software computer codes.

The Washington Examiner reported the upcoming test earlier this week.