US test fires ICBM intercept rocket designed to knock North Korean missiles out of the sky

THE US has just fired an intercept rocket designed to knock Kim Jong-un’s intercontinental missiles out of the sky before they hit America.

The Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) element of the U.S. ballistic missile defense system launches during a flight test from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Picture: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

THE US has tested an interceptor rocket it hopes will be able to take down incoming rockets from North Korea.

A missile was launched from California in a move thought to be in response to Kim Jong-un’s rocket development programme.

The system has not been tested since 2014, and has only successfully hit its target nine times out of 17 attempts.

It is not yet known if the latest test — from the Vandenberg Air Force Base, 60 miles south of Santa Barbara — was successful, The Sun reports.

The Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) element of the U.S. ballistic missile defense system launches during a flight test from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, today. Picture: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

Reuters reported it is likely to be several hours before defence chiefs confirm its success or failure.

As part of the test the missile will try to knock a mock warhead - launched from 4,200 miles away on the Marshall Islands’s Kwajalein Atoll - out of the skies over the Pacific Ocean.

The test is thought to have cost nearly £190million.

And it comes at a time when Kim Jong-un is desperately trying to develop a missile capable of hitting the US mainland.

The US and its allies are now being accused of “playing catch-up” after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was pictured watching his country’s latest test over the weekend.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un inspects the test-fire of a ballistic missile at an undisclosed location in North Korea, according to the country’s state media agency. Picture: AFP

Pictures emerged of North Korea’s ballistic test yesterday. Picture: AFP

Not only North Korea, not only nuclear. Missiles/MD increasingly dictate high-end strategic/tech discourse. US/Asian allies playing catchup https://t.co/dgLbWpM83m

— Euan Graham (@graham_euan) May 30, 2017

State media said: “Kim Jong-Un... watched the test of a new type of anti-aircraft guided weapon system organised by the Academy of National Defence Science.

“This weapon system, whose operation capability has been thoroughly verified, should be mass-produced to deploy all over the country.

“So as to completely spoil the enemy’s wild dream to command the air, boasting of air supremacy and weapon almighty.”

On Tuesday, the head of the US Defence Intelligence Agency said that if left unchecked, North Korea is on an “inevitable” path to obtaining a nuclear-armed missile capable of striking the US.

Appearing at a Senate hearing, Defence Intelligence Agency Director Vincent Stewart declined to offer a time estimate but Western experts believe the North still needed several years to develop such a weapon.

This story originally appeared in The Sun and is republished with permission.