China said it carried out a successful ground-based mid-course missile interception test in an apparent sign of progress in its ability to bring down weapons incoming from space, Associated Press reported.

The Defence Ministry says the operation was carried out late Friday night within Chinese territory and achieved “the desired test objective.”

The test was "defensive in nature and not targeted against any country," the ministry said, giving no other details such as whether it actually struck an object, how many interceptors were fired and where they landed.

Such systems, which consist of ground-based interceptor missiles and a huge array of radars and fire control systems, aim to bring down ballistic missiles, including ICBMs carrying nuclear or other warheads, while they are flying in space mid-course on the way to their targets.

Referred to by the US, as ground-based mid-course defence, or GMD, such systems are hugely complex and expensive to build, test and maintain, and China’s capabilities in the field are not well known, AP reported.

Previously, the Defence Ministry issued a near-identical statement announcing it had conducted such a test on February 4, 2021, which it said had also met its goals. Another Chinese test reportedly took place in 2018.

Such "kinetic-kill" interceptors can also be used as anti-satellite weapons, and China sparked considerable criticism when it used such a missile to destroy a defunct Chinese weather observation satellite in early 2007.

China did not announce the operation and the explosion left a massive debris field that continues to imperil objects in orbit, including China’s own space station, Tiangong.

China already has one of the world’s largest arsenals of all types of missiles and reportedly expanding it rapidly. A Pentagon report released last year said China currently has about 400 nuclear warheads and that number could grow to 1,500 by 2035.

Image courtesy: Representative image/AP