'America has the ability to fire ballistic missiles'

Washington, June 8: According to the Pentagon, after last month's successful test, the US now has the ability to shoot the targeted continental ballistic missiles (ICBM) at home. The new estimate, indicating an update, said in a 2012 report that the Pentagon had previously had a "limited capacity" to protect the continental US only from the enemy missile. The remarks were made in a memo issued on Wednesday from the acting director of operational test and evaluation, David Duma, to Defence Secretary Jim Mattis, CNN reported.

The new assessment no longer describes the capability as "limited", according to the memo. The operational test and evaluation office has changed its assessment of the system saying, "(Ground-based Midcourse Defence) has demonstrated capability to defend the US homeland from a small number of intermediate-range or intercontinental ballistic missile threats with simple countermeasures."

The memo attributes the upgrade to "initial data analysis" from last month's test, including "fixes" made to the "Kill Vehicle", which is the component that actually destroys the enemy missile, and the "sensors/command and control architecture". The Pentagon successfully shot down an intercontinental ballistic missile using its upgraded long-range interceptor missile last month in what was widely seen as a test of the US' ability to counter a North Korean missile launch, reports CNN.

The Missile Defence Agency launched a ground-based interceptor from US-launched Mac ICBM targeting the Vandenberg Air Force base in the Pacific Ocean in California. The test is ICBM, which places miles per hour, was destroyed "thousands of miles off the coast" of the US mainland, with the intercept taking place northeast of Hawaii.