The United States Missile Defense Agency will conduct a test of the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) missile interceptor system later this month, the U.S. Department of Defense announced Wednesday. The test has been described as a realistic test of the system’s ability to intercept a North Korean ballistic missile.

“We are testing at thousands of kilometers at very high intercepted velocities, very, very similar to what we would experience with a threat ICBM from North Korea,” Vice Admiral James Syring, the director of the Missile Defense Agency, said at a Senate hearing.

WHAT IS GMD?

GMD is designed to