3 IAF officers sacked over BrahMos missile landing in Pakistan incident

The Indian Air Force has sacked with immediate effect the three Indian Air Force officers, who were involved in accidentally firing a BrahMos missile from a base in Haryana which landed in Pakistan, earlier this year. This was revealed by the Air Force in a statement on Tuesday (August 23).

In March, a missile was fired accidentally from the Indian side into an area in Pakistan, an incident, which the defence ministry had termed as “deeply regrettable”. India had said that it happened due to a “technical malfunction”.

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According to the Air Force, a BrahMos missile was accidentally fired on March 9, 2022 and a Court of Inquiry (Col) was set up to establish the facts of the case, including fixing responsibility for the incident. They found that deviation from the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) by three officers led to the accidental firing of the missile, said the statement.

“These three officers have primarily been held responsible for the incident. Their services have been terminated by the Central Govt with immediate effect,” stated the Air Force, adding that the termination orders have been served upon the officers on August 23, 2022.

At the time of the incident, Pakistan had said that the missile had flown more than 100 km inside their airspace, at an altitude of 40,000 feet and at three times the speed of sound, before it landed. The missile, however, did not detonate since there was no warhead.

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Pakistan had summoned India’s charge d’affaires in Islamabad to protest what it called an unprovoked violation of its airspace. They had demanded an investigation into the incident as this could harmed passenger flights and civilian lives.

Further, Pakistan had slammed India and warned them to be mindful of the unpleasant consequences of such negligence and that they should take effective measures to avoid the recurrence of such violations in future.

Meanwhile, defence minister Rajnath Singh had made a statement in Parliament assuring the two Houses that the missile system was very reliable and safe.