U.S. forces shot down a medium-range ballistic missile off the coast of Hawaii Wednesday as part of a test conducted amid heightened regional tensions.
Early Wednesday local time, U.S. Navy sailors on the USS John Paul Jones “successfully conducted a complex defense flight test,” according to a statement by the Missile Defense Agency, a section of the Defense Department.
“We are working closely with the fleet to develop this important new capability, and this was a key milestone,” the agency’s director Lt. Gen. Sam Greaves said in a statement. “We will continue developing ballistic missile defense technologies to stay ahead of the threat as it evolves.”
Wednesday’s move by the U.S. came after a series of North Korean missile tests and threats by Kim Jong Un. On Monday, Pyongyang fired a ballistic missile over Japan. This prompted President Donald Trump to say the U.S. is “100 percent with Japan.”
On Wednesday, Trump tweeted that, “The U.S. has been talking to North Korea, and paying them extortion money, for 25 years. Talking is not the answer!”
Later Wednesday morning, Secretary of Defense James Mattis said, “We’re never out of diplomatic solutions.”

source: nbc.com