New Delhi: The Center on Tuesday accidentally dismissed three Indian Air Force (IAF) officers, including a Group Captain misfiring A BrahMos supersonic cruise missile that found its way into Pakistani territory in March.
A commanding officer of BrahMos unit is also among the three officers who were found primarily responsible for the incident after a Court of Inquiry (COI).
“A BrahMos missile was accidentally fired on 9 March 2022. Court of Inquiry (Col), Set
Found to establish the facts of the case including fixing responsibility for the incident
Reasons for deviation from Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) by three officers
The accidental firing of the missile,” said a statement issued by the IAF, terminated with immediate effect to the authorities.
event before Flagged On 10 March it was claimed by the Pakistan Army that the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile had come from Haryana’s Sirsa area and was headed towards Mahajan Field Range in Rajasthan before deviating west and entering Pakistan’s airspace.
At the time, Pakistan’s military spokesman, Major General Babar Iftikhar, also said that there were no civilian casualties from the incident, but claimed that the missile was flying at an altitude of 40,000 feet and that “the security of several aircraft in Pakistani airspace” was compromised. put in danger”.
Accidental firing took place due to technical fault
Sources in the Indian defense establishment later denied Pakistan’s claims about the path of the missile, saying it was a “practice” unarmed version of the weapon.
“During routine maintenance, a technical snag resulted in the accidental firing of the missile. Government of India has taken a serious view and ordered a high-level inquiry,” the Defense Ministry had said. Having said in March.
The incident shocked many defense sources at the time as the latest versions of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile have a longer range of 400 km and higher protection mechanisms than the previous iterations of the long-range weapon.
“The missile has multiple geo-locations of targets fed into the system, which need to be selected or new ones added. Then there are several phases of evacuation including the entry of some codes before the countdown begins, after which the missile goes into auto mode,” the sources had said. Told ThePrint in March
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