Rajnath Singh to parliament: Indian Missile System highly reliable and safe

New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday assured the nation that the Indian missile system was very reliable and safe. Making a statement in the Rajya Sabha on the incident of March 9 in which an Indian unarmed super-sonic missile launched "inadvertently" landed in Pakistan, Singh said that the Government has taken serious note of the incident and a high-level investigation is underway to determine the exact cause of the incident.

The Defence Minister said, " Our safety procedures and protocols are of the highest order and are reviewed from time to time. Our armed forces are well-trained and disciplined and are well experienced in handling such systems."

"During routine maintenance and inspection, a missile was accidentally released at around 7 pm. It was later learnt that the missile had landed inside the territory of Pakistan. While this incident is regretted, we are relieved that nobody was hurt due to the accident," he added.

Singh said Standard Operating procedures (SOPs) for operations, maintenance and inspection of such systems were being reviewed. Mr Singh said if any shortcoming is found, the same would be immediately rectified.

On 9 March 2022, in the course of routine maintenance, a technical malfunction had led to the accidental firing of the missile. Pakistan Military had claimed that a high-speed projectile launched from India entered the Pakistani airspace travelling 124 km and fell near Mian Channu in Khanewal district damaging some civilian property though no casualties occurred.

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