On Monday, North Korea conducted yet another successful missile test. One day later, the U.S. has responded by launching a missile of our own.

Fox News reported that on Tuesday, the Pentagon for the first time attempted to destroy a target simulating the speed and range of a potential North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile.

“It will test the system against an ICBM-type target and will represent the longest intercept test of a target to date in the program,” said Vice Adm. James Syring, director of the Missile Defense Agency.

Tuesday’s test saw an unarmed rocket lift off from the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean, representing a would-be North Korean threat. Minutes later, an interceptor then blasted off from an underground missile silo at Vandenberg Air Force Base north of Los Angeles, on a mission to take out the dummy target over the Pacific Ocean. The last stage of the test took place hundreds of miles above earth, where a “kill vehicle” was set to close in on the target, navigating through space with thrusters powered by real-time ground updates.

The results of the test will not be known until tomorrow.

“I have complete confidence in the system and the warfighters operating the system,” Syring said.

“This is the hardest thing that the Pentagon has ever tried to do,” said Phillip Coyle, an expert with the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation and a former official in the Pentagon weapons testing office.

“I think they’re trying to put their best foot forward for the program,” he added. “But they have a long way to go.”

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