Agni-III's maiden flight unsuccessful

HYDERABAD: The maiden flight of Agni-III, India's most powerful and advanced long-range ballistic missile, from Wheeler Island, off the Orissa coast, on Sunday was unsuccessful.
Although the lift-off at 11.03 a.m. was smooth,
the two-stage missile crashed into the sea after climbing to a height of 12 km.

Official sources attributed the failure of the flight to the non-separation of the first stage from the second stage.
"The launch did not meet all the mission requirements," the sources said. A "design failure" is said to be the reason behind the non-separation of the first stage. Both the stages are powered by solid propellants.
The countdown for the launch of the surface-to-surface missile, with a range of 3,500 km, went off smoothly at the Integrated Test Range of the Defence Research and Development Organisation