U.S. Shoots Down ICBM for First Time

According to the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, their ground-based defense system has finally shot down an ICBM on the first try.

However, what it hit wasn't actually an ICBM, but a simulated missile shot from the Marshall Islands, and the interceptor was shot from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Because the simulated missile doesn't have the unpredictability, range, counter-countermeasures, or mass numbers of real ones, it isn't representative of how well the military would be able to prevent an actual ICBM attack. Military officials still spoke highly of the event as a significant step.

The "kill vehicle" used in the test is a new kind, a 5-foot-long device that steers into the path of the oncoming missile, destroying it by the force of impact.

U.S. Missile Defense Shield in South Korea Now Operational

As part of America's elevated response to North Korea's military expansion, the THAAD missile defense system installed in South Korea has been completed, less than 2 months after the equipment arrived there, according to the U.S. military.

The move to install the shield was made last July during the Obama administration.