This is what Hindu have reported...Look at the bolded part...
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Interceptor missile fails to take off
The interceptor missile test on Monday, which features an attacker missile and an interceptor to kill it, ended in partial failure with the attacker Prithvi missile not reaching its required altitude and range.
The interceptor missile, therefore, did not take off from the Wheeler Island, off the coast of Orissa. The Launch Control Centre on the Wheeler Island did not deliberately give the command for the interceptor to take off as part of the built-in safeguard system, said missile technologists of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
As per the original plan of the interceptor missile test on Monday, a modified Prithvi missile, mimicking an “enemy” ballistic missile’s trajectory, would have lifted off from the launch complex at the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Balasore on the Orissa coast. A few minutes later, an interceptor missile called Advanced Air Defence System (AAD) would have lifted off from the Wheeler Island, 60 km across the sea from the ITR, and destroyed the incoming adversarial missile in mid-flight at an altitude of 20 km. Thus, the interception was to take place in endo-atmosphere, that is, below an altitude of 50 km.
But what happened was this: The modified Prithvi missile took off from the ITR but did not reach the required altitude of 110 km. It reached an altitude of only 60 to 70 km. It also did not reach its expected range. It fell into the Bay of Bengal. The Launch Control Centre at the Wheeler Island, therefore, did not give the command for the AAD to lift off. “Some onboard item in the attacker missile could have malfunctioned. Some component could have misbehaved. We have to study the telemetry,” said DRDO missile technologists. The interceptor was not launched at all because “we cannot anticipate the velocity with which the modified Prithvi missile will come down,” they explained.
The interceptor’s launch was precluded by “built-in safeguards” in the LCC.
“Unless the attacker missile reaches a particular altitude and range, the interceptor will not take off,” they explained.
They said a team would study why the modified Prithvi missile did not reach its specified altitude. This Prithvi missile was 11 metres long and weighed five tonnes. Its diameter was one meter. It is powered by liquid propellants. The interceptor is 7.5 metres tall, weighs 1.3 tonnes and has a diameter of 0.5 metres. It has solid propellants.
The DRDO has successfully conducted three interceptor missile tests earlier in November 2006, December 2007 and March 2009 as part of its efforts to establish a Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) shield against incoming ballistic missiles from enemy countries.
The Hindu : News / National : Interceptor missile fails to take off
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@Mods : can we please merge these thread with the below given??? I had to post the same post twice....
http://www.defence.pk/forums/india-defence/50607-indias-missile-shield-test-fails-officials.html