A few months back a missile from a S-300 launched in Syria (supposedly launched at an Israeli jet) blew up over Cyprus. Look at the map. I’m quite sure the system is designed so if a missile misses its tracked target it detonates as to prevent that from happening. It was a bigger fail than most people realize.
That’s true. I used to work combat systems for AIRPAC and the SM (15 years ago) series missiles would self destruct after losing a target. After launch they 3 seconds (if my memory is correct) to establish a data link with the ship, if it didn’t, it would self destruct.