The United States military has again failed to intercept a ballistic missile during a test off Hawaii, the US Missile Defense Agency has acknowledged.
The agency made the announcement in a statement issued on Wednesday night, the Associated Press reported on Thursday.
The agency said the intercept attempt failed during a test conducted with Japan’s armed forces.
The United States and Japan are jointly attempting to develop the interceptor in order to shoot down medium-range ballistic missiles coming from North Korea, which has threatened to attack both Japan and the US in case the country faces American aggression.
The agency said a medium-range target missile was fired from the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai late on Wednesday.
Then the USS John Paul Jones, the third Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, detected and tracked the missile. The destroyer launched the interceptor, but it failed to shoot down the missile.
This was the second time the US military failed to intercept a medium-range target missile during a test. The previous attempt in February was also a failure.
Despite sanctions and international pressure, North Korea has been attempting to strengthen its military capability to protect itself from the threat posed by the presence of US forces in the region.
North Korea says it will not give up on its missile technology and nuclear deterrence unless Washington ends its hostile policy toward Pyongyang and dissolves the US-led UN command in South Korea. Thousands of US soldiers are stationed in South Korea and Japan.
According to the US military’s recent declaration, the United States has 806 deployed ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missile), SLBMs (submarine-launched ballistic missile), and heavy bombers as well as 1,722 deployed nuclear warheads.
The Pentagon is also equipped with a multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV), a highly advanced version of the intercontinental nuclear missile carrying several independent warheads.