The U.S. Department of Defense touted a successful test of its Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) ballistic missile defense system on Wednesday, saying it showed the U.S. was ready to intercept missiles from North Korea or Iran “today”.

The Missile Defense Agency conducted the test on Tuesday evening, successfully striking a simulated ballistic missile fired from a site in the Marshall Islands with an interceptor launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

The interceptor – itself a multistage solid-fuelled rocket – carried a “kill vehicle” to the simulated missile’s location outside of the atmosphere, where it struck the target in midflight.

“I was confident before