3 IAF Officials Have Been Fired As A Result Of The Brahmos Missile Incident

The Indian Air Force (IAF) Court of Inquiry (Col) investigated the March unintentional fire of a BrahMos supersonic cruise missile that landed in Pakistan determined that three officers violated Standard Operating Procedures (SOP). The officers’ services have been terminated with immediate effect, the IAF announced on Tuesday.

“On March 9, 2022, a BrahMos missile was unintentionally launched.” “A CoI established to investigate the facts of the matter, including assigning blame for the incident, determined that deviation from SOP by three personnel resulted in the inadvertent discharge of the missile,” the IAF said in a statement.

“These three officers have been held substantially liable for the incident.” The Central Government has terminated their services with immediate effect. On August 23, 2022, the officers were served with termination notices.”

The missile landed 124 kilometres inside Pakistan, prompting the IAF to form a CoI led by an Air Vice Marshal, a two-star officer, to investigate the incident. The Pakistani military reported a day after the incident that the supersonic surface-to-surface missile, which was travelling at three times the speed of sound at 40,000 feet, ended up 124 kilometres within Pakistan, damaging some civilian property.

As previously reported by The Hindu, the CoI completed its inquiry in early April, after which the results were referred for legal review before being presented. Officials claimed that it did not appear to be a technical issue with the missile system and was most likely caused by human error, and that the CoI will confirm the exact nature of the accident.

Officials familiar with the missile system indicated that there are numerous checks and balances incorporated into the high-end missile system, ruling out the chance of a technological flaw. There are a number of software locks that are authorised at various levels, followed by two manual keys before the countdown can begin.

Accidentally released

In a statement to Parliament on March 15, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh revealed that at around 7 p.m., a missile was “accidently fired,” and it was later discovered that the missile had landed within Pakistani territory.

Mr. Singh indicated that the missile system was “very, reliable, and safe,” and that a review of the Standard Operating Procedures for “operations, maintenance, and inspections” was underway.

The BrahMos missile is a collaboration between India’s Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyeniya, and it takes its name from the Brahmaputra and Moskva rivers.