The US Defense Department has successfully tested an upgraded surveillance radar in Alaska as part of a national missile defense system, the department's Missile Defense Agency said on Monday.

A target long-range ballistic missile was launched from a C-17 transport plane in the air, some 1,300 km from Shemya Island, Alaska, where the Cobra Dane radar was deployed, the agency said in a statement.

The missile simulated the trajectory of a real missile fired across the Pacific, and its flight was "successfully tracked" by the Cobra Dane radar, according to the agency.

Data obtained by the radar was relayed to command centers in Colorado Springs, Colorado and Fort Greely, Alaska, which then used it to aim interceptor missiles based in Alaska and California.

The military did not launch interceptor missiles in the test, and it was the first time the upgraded radar had been tested as part of the ground-based missile defense system.

The US military began deploying ground-based missile interceptors in July last year, as part of the national defense system designed to shoot down enemy missiles.

Source: Xinhua