WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. military successfully shot down a dummy target missile over the southern Pacific Ocean during a test of its missile defense shield last Saturday, a U.S. official said Monday.

    An interceptor missile fired from a U.S. Missile Defense Agency(MDA) facility on Hawaii's Kekaha Island destroyed a dummy ballistic missile fired early from a mobile launch platform, said MDA Deputy Director Patrick J. O'Reilly, who confirmed the test at a press event in Washington.

    The test showed how a mobile, ground-based missile defense system works.

    The system is designed to protect the United States from short to intermediate-range high altitude ballistic missile attacks in the North American region.

    According to U.S. officials, the system "intercepts missiles that are shorter range and at the end of their flight trajectory. It is part of the ballistic missile defense system, a layered system that is designed to intercept all types of missiles in all phases of flights."

    This particular short to intermediate-range interceptor system has been tested four times a year since 2005.

    In September, the MDA successfully tested its long-range ballistic missile interceptor system, which it said was the most realistic test since the tests started in 2001.

    That interceptor system was designed to knock out missiles that could, for instance, be launched in a surprise strike from so-called "rogue nations."