It was deviation from the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) by three Indian Air Force officers which led to the accidental firing of BrahMos Missile earlier this year on March 9.
In a Ministry of Defence (MoD) official statement, a Court of Inquiry (Col), which was set up following the incident to establish the facts of the case and also fixing responsibility, on Tuesday (Aug 23, 2022) found three officers guilty. Following which termination orders have been served upon the three officers and their services have been terminated with immediate effect.
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Background
Following an accidental firing of a missile on March 9, 2022, defence minister Rajnath Sigh assured the members of Rajya Sabha that all safety procedures and protocols are of highest order and are reviewed from time to time. He had also said that because of the incident the SOPs for maintenance, inspections, and operations are in the process of being reviewed. He had assured the Upper House that in case any shortcoming was found it would be rectified immediately.
Sharing details of the incident that took place last week, the minister informed the House that the incident took place during routine maintenance inspection, when it was accidentally released.
It was 7 pm on March 9, 2022, when the missile was accidentally released and it veered off to Pakistan and landed in that territory. Defence minister Singh had ordered a formal high level inquiry into the accident.
Pakistan at that time had demanded joint probe to “accurately establish’’ the fact in matter and had stated that the internal CoI was not enough.
Was it a BrahMos Missile?
At that time the minister had not mentioned that it was a BrahMos missile, however, based on the specifications which were put out by Pakistan, top officials had said that it could have been BrahMos supersonic cruise missile. The supersonic object after it left Suratgarh in Rajasthan it had landed in Mian Channu, Khanewal district of Punjab on the Pakistan side.
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There is a need for stringent SOPs as both India and Pakistan are two neighbours with nuclear arms and such incidents could cause major problems in the neighbourhood.
