A missile fired from a new Aegis Ashore facility on Kauai successfully intercepted and destroyed a target representing a medium-range ballistic missile Wednesday, the Missile Defense Agency said in a news release.

It’s the first intercept test of a missile fired from the new $278 million Aegis Ashore system at the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands.

The radar system at Barking Sands detected and tracked a target missile launched from an Air Force C-17 Globemaster cargo jet over the ocean southwest of Kauai. The Aegis weapon system used the tracking information to launch an SM-3 Block IB Threat Upgrade guided missile from Kauai to intercept and destroy the target, the Missile Defense Agency said.

Aegis Ashore is a land-based missile defense system nearly identical to the Aegis systems on Navy cruisers and destroyers.

The complex on Kauai includes a Mark 41 launcher, a four-story building with a SPY-1 radar and three 125-foot test towers.

The 21-foot-6-inch SM-3 missiles, which cost $9 million to $10 million apiece for Block IA versions, use a kinetic warhead that smashes into a ballistic missile, destroying it.

The Aegis Ashore system is being installed in Romania and might be deployed in Poland.

“Today’s test demonstrated that the same Aegis ballistic missile defense capability that has been fielded at sea and operational for years will soon be operational ashore as part of the European Phased Adaptive Approach Phase 2 capability in Romania,” said Vice Adm. James Syring, the missile agency director.

The Missile Defense Agency did not immediately release photos or videos from Wednesday’s launch.

A missile launched from the facility in May 2014 created strange lights in the sky from condensed vapor trails. A missile target was not launched in last year’s test flight. There were no immediate reports of lights in the sky from Wednesday’s test, and the missile agency did not announce the time that the test took place.