KEKAHA >> The military says it successfully detected and tracked a medium-range missile target during a test off Hawaii.

The Defense Department says Thursday’s test was to demonstrate that the Aegis defense system can engage and track a ballistic missile while using only tracks from remote airborne sensors.

The target missile was launched from Kauai’s Pacific Missile Range Facility. Sailors aboard the Pearl Harbor-based USS John Paul Jones used radar to detect and track the target.

The Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System is the naval component of the nation’s missile defense program.

The Defense Department says missile defense technology being developed, tested and deployed by the United States is designed to counter ballistic missiles of all ranges — short, medium, intermediate and long.