Pentagon touts 'critical milestone' after successful missile defense test with interceptors

The Pentagon celebrated the first successful salvo test of an anti-missile defense system designed to shoot down nuclear-armed intercontinental missiles from enemies such as North Korea.

According to Missile Defense Agency Director Air Force Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves, the missile defense system functioned “exactly” as intended after two ground-based interceptors, or GBIs, were launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., on Monday to take down a mock warhead that took off 4,000 miles away.