India's missile interceptor fails test

India's ballistic missile interceptor failed on its tenth test on Monday, being unable to reach its target, a senior defence official said.

The indigenous Advanced Air Defence (AAD) interceptor missile was fired from Wheeler Island off the coast in Odisha's Bhadrak district, about 170 km from here, but plummeted into the Bay of Bengal seconds after lift-off.

"It took off as planned but did not reach the target. We are analysing the data," test range director M.V.K.V. Prasad told IANS.

Developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation, the AAD missile is 7.5 metres tall and weighs around 1.2 tonnes.

The Monday test was against an electronic target to validate the missile capability. With the latest mission, the DRDO has tested the missile interceptor 10 times with eight of the tests being successful.

The missile had last failed to hit the target missile during a similar test from the same defence base on July 26, 2010.