China conducted a successful ground-based midcourse antiballistic missile test on Sunday night, according to China's Ministry of National Defense.

The test was defensive in nature and did not target any country, said the ministry.

This is the sixth ground-based antiballistic missile test that the country has announced publicly. The previous tests were carried out in 2021, 2018, 2014, 2013 and 2010, according to Global Times.

The missile flight has three phases: the boost phase when the rocket booster pushes the missile to the sky, the midcourse phase where missile travels outside of the atmosphere, and the terminal phase where the missile re-enters the atmosphere and hits the target.

There are pros and cons of intercepting an intercontinental missile in different phases while it's relatively easy to intercept a ballistic missile in the boost phase as it's close to the ground and still speeding up.

Intercepting a ballistic missile in the midcourse phase can be quite challenging as the missile travels with nuclear warheads at a high altitude outside of the atmosphere at a very high speed, the Global Times quoted experts as saying. Intercepting it in terminal phase is not easy either as the missile travels at a high speed, they added.