A test of the sole U.S. defense against long-range ballistic missiles failed again Wednesday, the second failure in a row involving the system managed by Boeing Co., the Defense Department said.

“The Missile Defense Agency was unable to achieve a planned intercept of a ballistic missile target during a test over the Pacific Ocean (Wednesday),” Richard Lehner, an agency spokesman, said in an e-mailed statement. No preliminary explanation of the failure was provided. Get the full story »