Accidental missile firing: Three air force officers sacked for deviating from standard process
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New Delhi: The central government fired three officers for the accidental firing of a Brahmos missile into Pakistan earlier this year.
Fired from an airbase, it landed in Mian Channu in Pakistan. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on March 15 ordered a high-level probe.
The Air Force in a statement said that a BrahMos missile was accidentally fired on 09 March 2022. A court of inquiry was set up to establish the facts of the case and it included fixing responsibility for the incident. The COI found that deviation from the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) by three officers led to the accidental firing to Pakistan.
The statement further said that all three officers - a Group Captain and two Wing Commanders - have been held responsible and terminated with immediate effect. The officers received termination orders on 23 August 2022, reported NDTV.
At the time of the incident, the Defence Ministry called it "deeply regrettable" and "technical malfunction". The missile was fired from the Indian side of the border to an area in Pakistan. There was no warhead on the missile. So it did not detonate.
Pakistan called it an unprovoked violation of its airspace and summoned India's charge d'affaires in Islamabad to protest. The government also initiated an investigation saying the missile could have endangered passenger flights and civilian lives. The missile flew over 100km inside its airspace at an altitude of 40,000 feet and at three times the speed of sound before it landed.
After the incident, Rajnath Singh said in the Rajya Sabha: "A missile was unfortunately accidentally launched on March 9. The incident occurred during a routine inspection. We later came to know that it had landed in Pakistan."
He added: "I would like to inform the House that the government has taken serious note of the incident. A formal high-level inquiry has been ordered. The inquiry would determine the exact cause of the said accident. Thankfully, no damage was reported due to the accidental launch of the missile."
Islamabad also warned New Delhi to be "mindful of the unpleasant consequences of such negligence and take effective measures to avoid the recurrence of such violations in the future."