Windjammer
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So after deliberation of some Five months, Indian air force has finally decided to terminate three high ranking officials from their positions for accidentally firing a Brahmos missile towards Pakistan. The court of inquiry concluded that the three officers, One a Group Captain and Two Wing Commanders deviated from Standard Operating Procedures , which led to the accidental firing of the otherwise Nuclear capable missile. Fortunately for the Indians, the missile didn't contain a war head.
It must be noted that before taking five months to come up with this explanation, earlier India took Eight months to conclude another incident when IAF ground defences shot down their own helicopter with a SAM in a brief conflict with Pakistan.
However in the same conflict, when the IAF attempted to strike some ground targets in Pakistan, authorities in New Delhi within 24 hours were claiming and giving out casualty figures that they were claiming occurred on the other side of LOC....yet it takes Indians several months to conclude what happens in it's own back yard.
The initial poor response by Indian authorities points to the fact that either the malpractice was carried out by rogue elements within Indian armed forces or the Indians authorities don't have a clue as what to do in case of such alarming emergency as reported by this Western source.
''Given the seriousness of the incident, India’s delayed response has been particularly striking. Immediately following the accidental launch, India could have alerted Pakistan using its high-level military hotlines; however, Pakistani officials stated that it did not do so. Additionally, India waited two days after the incident before issuing a short public statement.
India’s poor response to this unprecedented incident has serious implications for crisis stability between the two countries. According to DNA India, in the absence of clarification from India, Pakistan Air Force’s Air Defence Operations Centre immediately suspended all military and civilian aircraft for nearly six hours, and reportedly placed frontline bases and strike aircraft on high alert. Defence sources stated that these bases remained on alert until 13:00 PKT on March 14th. Pakistani officials appeared to confirm this, noting that “whatever procedures were to start, whatever tactical actions had to be taken, they were taken.
Thankfully, this incident took place during a period of relative peacetime between the two nuclear-armed countries. However, in recent years India and Pakistan have openly engaged in conventional warfare in the context of border skirmishes. In one instance, Pakistani military officials even activated the National Command Authority––the mechanism that directs the country’s nuclear arsenal––as a signal to India. At the time, the spokesperson of the Pakistan Armed Forces not-so-subtly told the media, “I hope you know what the NCA means and what it constitutes.”
If this same accidental launch had taken place during the 2019 Balakot crisis, or a similar incident, India’s actions were woefully deficient and could have propelled the crisis into a very dangerous phase.''
One wonders, how many countries accidentally have launched missiles at a neighbouring country during relative peacetime or shot down own slow moving helicopter while confusing it for a fast jet ....that too deep in own airspace. Giving bravery medals to pilots for getting shot down may raise Indians tail but one wonders if Indians with their fingers on red buttons know exactly what to do or rather not do in case of an emergency.....alas, poor innovations can not be nurtured is an old saying.
