Aug. 29, 2017 - A medium-range ballistic missile target is launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, Hawaii, during Flight Test Standard Missile-27 Event 2 (FTM-27 E2). The target was successfully intercepted by SM-6 missiles fired from the USS John Paul Jones (DDG 53).
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The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) element provides the Ballistic Missile Defense System with a globally transportable, rapidly deployable capability to intercept and destroy ballistic missiles inside or outside the atmosphere during their final, or terminal, phase of flight.
The Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) element of the Ballistic Missile Defense System provides Combatant Commanders the capability to engage and destroy limited intermediate- and long-range ballistic missile threats in the midcourse battle space to protect the United States.