The Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) attributed the failure to a “technical snag” in the last minutes. “A detailed analysis of the event is being carried out,” a DRDO source said.

Known as Agni II plus or Agni II prime, the surface-to-surface medium range ballistic missile, with a capability to carry both conventional as well as nuclear warheads, was test fired from a mobile launcher in the premier missile testing centre in Orissa’s Bhadrak district at around 10 am.

According to the officials, the role of bad weather behind the failure could be a reason for the failure. The missile was earlier scheduled to be test fired on Thursday but bad weather had forced the DRDO scientists to call it off.

According to officials in the state’s science and technology department, the unsuccessful test run of the missile should not be treated as a major setback for the country’s indigenous missile development programme.

“It is certainly a setback but not a major one. These things do happen across the globe. In fact, both Agni II and Agni III had several unsuccessful trial runs before they were test fired successfully,” said a scientist, attached to the science and technology department.

Agni II plus is an upgraded version of Agni II missile with a higher range. While Agni II can hit a target at a distance of 2,000 kms, the travelling capacity of Agni II plus missile is between 2,500 to 3,000 kms.