USA has just conducted another missile destruction test to demonstrate the strength of their ballistic missile defense program. The incredible footage below shows how a single blank missile, launched from the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, was brought down by an interceptor missile shot by USA’s Ground-based Midcourse Defense, or GMD, system over the Pacific Ocean launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Despite the truly astounding footage, many skeptics have said that the test might have been doctored and the missile might have had a homing device attached which allowed the interceptor to detect and destroy. Of course, the military has denied the rumors and have iterated that the tests were a huge success which was vital for the nation’s defense.
The missiles come at a time of heightened hostility between the US and North Korea which has prompted both countries to flaunt their military prowess. North Korea has launched nine missile test in 2017 alone, the latest one landing in the Japanese waters and incurring an official complaint from the country.
The world watches nervously as the two countries build up towards a possibly catastrophic nuclear showdown. North Korea has been getting under USA’s skin since their missile testing is part of a more ambitious plan of developing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that can possibly reach mainland United States.
The show of strength was to deter North Koreans from developing the nuclear warheads, who responded promptly after the test. The Korean Central News Agency reports that a North Korean military spokesman said that the U.S. is
“sadly mistaken if they think such missile interception system can prevent the shower of [a] nuclear strike.”
The test has also stirred the ire of China and Russia as they see the U.S. technology as a threat, which further complicates the matters for Trump administration and plays into the hands of the North Koreans.