The Missile Defense Agency said the failure became apparent when an interceptor that was supposed to shoot down an incoming target missile carrying a mock warhead did not take off from the Ronald Reagan Test Site located on the Marshall Islands in the central Pacific.

"The reason for not launching is under investigation, and program officials are reviewing data to determine the cause," the agency said in a statement.

The setback was most likely caused by a malfunction of the ground support equipment rather than defects of the missile itself, the officials pointed out.

However, the failed test was the second for the beleaguered national missile defense system since mid-December.

The December 15 test was aborted after a built-in internal check detected an anomaly in the interceptor missile, shutting it down moments before launch from an atoll in the Pacific.

Lieutenant General Henry Obering, who heads the Missile Defense Agency said an assessment had determined that the anomaly was a rare gap in the flow of electronic messages between the flight computer and the interceptor's thrust vector controller, which guides the missile.

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