The maiden nighttime test launch of India's nuclear-capable intermediate-range Agni-II ballistic missile failed, the Times of India said on Tuesday.
The Indian Army test-fired the surface-to-surface IRBM from the Integrated Test Range on Wheeler's Island, Bhadrak district, around 7:50 p.m. local time (14:20 GMT) on Monday, the online edition said.
"The liftoff and the first stage separation were smooth. But it faltered just before the second stage separation and behaved erratically, deviating from its coordinated path," the paper quoted an army source as saying.
The cause of the failure has yet to be established.
The nuclear-capable 2,000-km-plus range missile is 20 meters long, 1 meter in diameter, weighs 17 tons and can carry a payload of around 1,000 kg, according to the Times of India. The missile was first tested on April 11, 1999.
NEW DELHI, November 24 (RIA Novosti)
