The United States military has carried out a successful test of its new missile defence system. A dummy warhead was launched over the Pacific Ocean at 2111EST (0211GMT Saturday), and was hit by a ground-launched missile 20 minutes later. The US military now has a four-out-of-six success rate over three years. Russia and China are strongly opposed to the National Missile Defence (MND) programme but the US says it is necessary for protection against "rogue states" such as North Korea, Iraq and Iran.