CHENNAI: Three Indian Air Force officers have been terminated from service on Tuesday for the incident involving accidental firing of the BrahMos cruise missile which landed deep inside Pakistan. The Air Force in a statement said here, “These three officers have primarily been held responsible for the incident. Their services have been terminated by the Central Govt with immediate effect. Termination orders have been served upon the officers on 23 Aug 22.”
“BrahMos missile was accidentally fired on 09 March 2022. A Court of Inquiry (Col), set up to establish the facts of the case, including fixing responsibility for the incident, found that deviation from the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) by three officers led to the accidental firing of the missile, added the Air Force
The supersonic cruise missile had landed around 120 kilometres in Pakistan’s Mian Channu in Khanewal district. It did not have any explosive thus there was no detonation. Expressing regret for the incident the Indian Government had ordered to probe the matter at a high level. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) in a statement said, “On 9 March 2022, in the course of a routine maintenance, a technical malfunction led to the accidental firing of a missile.”
“It is learnt that the missile landed in an area of Pakistan. While the incident is deeply regrettable, it is also a matter of relief that there has been no loss of life due to the accident,” the MoD added.Pakistan had summoned India’s charge d’affaires and had registered a protest for unprovoked violation of its airspace.
IAF Says
These three officers have primarily been held responsible for the incident. Their services have been terminated by the Central Govt with immediate effect. Termination orders have been served upon the officers on 23 Aug 22