The Israeli Defense Ministry announced Thursday it has successfully carried out a test on locking on a missile target from space using its Arrow 3 missile defense system that was developed jointly with the United States.

“The anti-missile Hetz 3 (Arrow 3) complex completed all of its planned flight stages and destroyed its target. Target lock on occurred in space,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The Arrow 3 is an anti ballistic defense system, jointly developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and US aviation giant Boeing. The system is incorporated into Israel's multi-level defense shield and designed to intercept missiles of varying ranges — from short-range missiles fired from neighboring territories, to long-range missiles launched from Iran.

The Arrow 3 interceptor missile is capable of operating in space, as its hypersonic speed allows it to overcome the atmosphere.

A previous Arrow 3 test, conducted by Israel in December 2014, failed. According to reports, the launch of the Arrow 3 interceptor missile had to be canceled as it had failed to lock on to its target missile.