In a significant disclosure, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has provided the Delhi High Court with details regarding the accidental firing of a BrahMos supersonic missile into Pakistan on March 9, 2022. This incident, which had previously stirred diplomatic tensions between India and Pakistan, was attributed to a critical operational oversight involving the missile’s combat connectors.
According to the IAF’s statement, the combat crew failed to disconnect the missile’s combat connectors from the junction box, leading to the unintended launch. The oversight resulted in the missile landing in Pakistan, prompting an immediate protest from Islamabad against New Delhi.
The IAF’s inquiry into the mishap identified a lapse in operational protocol by the combat team, stating, “The combat crew, despite knowing that the combat connectors of combat missiles are connected to the junction box, failed to intervene to prevent the Mobile Autonomous Launcher commander from executing an unsafe act of launching the Combat Missile.”
The incident led to a financial loss of approximately ₹25 crore ($3.3 million) and tarnished the reputation of the Indian Air Force. It also posed a potential threat to any airborne or ground object and personnel in its trajectory, further straining the delicate relations between India and Pakistan.
A Court of Inquiry (CoI) conducted by the IAF implicated Group Captain Saurabh Gupta, Squadron Leader Pranjal Singh, and Wing Commander Abhinav Sharma for their roles in the incident, attributing it to “various acts of omission and commission.”
The disclosure came in response to a petition by Wing Commander Sharma, who sought to shift blame onto Air Commodore JT Kurien. The IAF, however, dismissed Sharma’s allegations as “conjectures, surmises, baseless, and without any substantiating evidence,” and maintained that Sharma was not in a position to prevent the missile launch.
The revelation has cast a spotlight on the need for stringent operational protocols and checks within military operations involving sophisticated weaponry to prevent such incidents in the future.
