Group captain, others under scanner for accidental missile firing into Pakistan
The ongoing IAF inquiry into the accidental firing of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile that crashed 124km inside Pakistan on March 9 is also considering the role of a Group Captain among other officers in the misfire.
The missile did not cause any major damage to property or any loss of life in the Mian Channu town of Pakistan.
Currently, the Group captain and others in the Indian Air Force are under the scanner. The Group Captain was in-charge of the mobile command post of the BrahMos unit when the tactical missile was launched by mistake during a simulation exercise being audited by a Command Air Staff Inspection.
The Court of Inquiry (CoI) is examining the entire sequence of events as well as the acts of omission and commission that led to the operational lapse which led to the missile misfire. The court is also reviewing the standard operating procedures for “operations, maintenance, and inspections” for the BrahMos missiles.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on March 15 had stated in Parliament that a high-level probe has been ordered into the incident involving the accidental launch of a missile that landed in Pakistan.
Rajnath Singh had informed 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.”
Making it clear that the Indian missile system is extremely trustworthy and secure, the Defence Minister had stated that the Indian Armed Forces are experienced in handling such systems. Pakistan has been trying to rake up the issue of accidental missile firing at the international stage without realizing that the BrahMos missile is just a tactical system and was unarmed at the time of the incident.
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