Four top-ranked officials of the Indian Air Force (IAF) are being investigated for their involvement in the accidental misfire of the BrahMos missile into Pakistan earlier this month.
According to reports by Indian media outlets, a Court of Inquiry (CoI), the top investigation board of Indian armed forces, is probing the missile incident.
Reports have confirmed that one of the officers under probe is a Group Captain. Note here that Group Captain or Commanding Officer is the sixth-highest rank in the IAF.
Air Commodore, Air Vice Marshal, Air Marshal, Air Chief Marshal, and Marshal of IAF are the five ranks above Group Captain in the chain of command in IAF.
The initial investigation of COI had found that it was a human error and not a technical fault that led to the missile misfire. Currently, the COI is investigating the matter from different angles.
A number of steps are to be followed before the firing of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile and the COI is looking to determine how the launch codes were entered into the BrahMos firing system.
On 9 March, BrahMos, a medium-range cruise missile of India, was accidentally fired from Ambala, a district in the Indian province of Haryana, which entered into Pakistani territory and landed in Mian Channu in District Khanewal.
A couple of days after the missile misfire, Indian media claimed that the incident had occurred due to a malfunction during routine checking of IAF’s missile systems.
Via: Tribune India
