The US Navy has destroyed a simulated short-range ballistic missile launched from the Kaua’i Barking Sands Test Facility at the Pacific Missile Range Facility.

During the test cruiser USS Lake Erie and the destroyers USS Hopper and USS O’Kane tracked the target and the Hopper fired a Standard Missile-3 interceptor, which succesfully destroyed the target missile.

The test, which cost about $40m, was a part of the ongoing development of a US missile defence system.

The Aegis system is a sea-based component of the navy’s ballistic missile defence shield to fight short-to–intermediate-range ballistic missiles.