What the United States Said About India’s “Accidental” Missile Launch Into Pakistan
India claimed on Friday that during routine maintenance on March 9, a technological malfunction resulted in the unintentional firing of a missile into Pakistan.
The incident has been referred to a high-level Court of Enquiry by the government. This happened just a day after Pakistan claimed an “Indian missile” had infiltrated its airspace.
Major General Iftikhar, Director-General of Pakistan’s Inter-Service Public Relations (ISPR), told a press conference on March 9 that “The Pakistan Air Force’s Air Defence Operation Centre detected a high-speed flying object within Indian territory around 6.43 p.m. The item abruptly changed direction and entered Pakistani territory, violating Pakistani airspace before crashing near Mian Channu at 6.50 p.m.”
It was “a supersonic surface-to-surface missile, but certainly unarmed,” according to the Pakistan Army.
The missile was likewise “fired from Sirsa in Haryana and its destination was Mahajan Field Firing in Rajasthan,” according to the report.
While the Indian Ministry of Defence did not specify the type of projectile used, it is widely assumed to have been a BrahMos missile.
This is primarily due to the Pakistani military’s depiction of the situation. According to the report, the projectile traveled approximately 100 kilometers into Pakistani territory at a speed of Mach 3.
Mach is an aircraft speed measurement, with Mach 1 equaling the speed of sound.
Pakistan summoned India’s Charge d’Affaires in Islamabad on Friday to express its displeasure with the “unprovoked violation of its airspace.”
It also urged, according to a PTI report, that the Indian government investigate the occurrence.
On a reconnaissance operation in 1997, an Indian Air Force MiG-25 fighter crossed into Pakistani airspace.
According to a source in Business Today, the aircraft broke the sound barrier over Islamabad, generating a loud sonic boom before returning unharmed to Indian territory.
According to the US, there is no evidence that the recent shooting of an Indian missile that landed in Pakistan was anything more than an accident.
India claimed on Friday that it fired a missile that landed in Pakistan by accident two days ago and that the “very unfortunate” incident was triggered by a technical breakdown during routine maintenance.
“We have no indication,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters at his regular news conference on Monday, “that this occurrence was anything other than an accident,” as you heard from our Indian partners.
“For any further information, we recommend that you contact the Indian Ministry of Defense. On March 9th, they released a statement clarifying what had occurred. Beyond that, we don’t have anything to say “In response to a query, Price stated.