According to Pakistan, the missile flew over 100 km inside their airspace (Representational).
New Delhi:
The government on Tuesday said that three Indian Air Force officers have been sacked for the accidental firing of the BrahMos missile in Pakistan earlier this year.
“A BrahMos missile was accidentally fired on 09 March 2022. A Court of Inquiry (Col) constituted to establish the facts of the case including fixing responsibility for the incident found that there were deviations from Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) by three The officers led the accidental firing of the missile,” the Air Force said in a statement.
“These three officers have been primarily held responsible for the incident. Their services have been terminated by the Central Government with immediate effect. On 23 August 22, the officers have been ordered to be dismissed,” it said.
The missile was accidentally fired from the Indian side into an area of Pakistan in March, in an incident the Defense Ministry called “deeply regrettable” and alleged a “technical snag”.
According to Pakistan, the missile flew over 100 km inside its airspace at an altitude of 40,000 feet and at three times the speed of sound, before it landed. There was no warhead on the missile, so it did not detonate.
The country’s foreign office said it had summoned India’s in-charge d’affaires in Islamabad to protest the unprovoked violation of its airspace. Pakistan called for an inquiry into the incident, saying it could endanger passenger flights and civilian lives.
Pakistan warned India to “beware of the unpleasant consequences of such negligence and to take effective measures to avoid recurrence of such violations in future”.