NEW DELHI/JAISALMER: An IAF fighter jet on Wednesday “inadvertently” dropped a bomb-like object outside the Pokhran field firing ranges, which created an 8-feet deep crater after a loud explosion near the Rathora village in the Ramdevra area of Rajasthan.
The incident, fortunately, took place in a barren uninhabited area, far from densely populated regions.An IAF officer said, “an inert air practice store” was “inadvertently released” from the fighter due to “a technical malfunction”, without specifying whether it was a bomb, missile or some other weapon.
“An inquiry has been ordered to investigate the incident. No damage to life or property on the ground has been reported,” he added. Ahead of the Phase-II of the multi-nation `Tarang Shakti’ air combat exercise that begins in Jodhpur on Aug 29, IAF fighters from different air-bases have been practicing air-to-ground bombing missions at the Chandan firing range in the Pokhran area.
A resident of Rathora village, Khiv Singh, said the aircraft was seen flying at a very low altitude over the village. Shortly thereafter, a loud explosion was heard around two km away. Villagers rushed to the site and found an 8-feet deep crater with pieces of a bomb-like object scattered around.
“It does not seem to be a `live’ missile or bomb with all the explosives. Otherwise, it would have caused much more damage on the ground. When a new weapon is being tried or a training mission is being conducted, the usual norm is to use inert bombs,” another officer said.
The armed forces regularly test their weapons and conduct firing exercises at Pokhran, with the Army and IAF having different firing ranges. The “air armament stores” basically refer to the munitions carried on a fighter’s “hard points” located on the fuselage or wings.
The incident on Wednesday was relatively minor compared to the “accidental launch” of a 290-km range BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, which had landed 124-km inside Pakistan, by an IAF ground unit on March 9, 2022.
The unarmed BrahMos – which is a conventional (non-nuclear) precision-strike weapon – had crashed harmlessly near Mian Chunnu town in Pakistan within seven minutes of the launch.
The grave operational lapse and “deviation from the standard operations procedure”, which could have triggered a retaliation from Pakistan, had led to the sacking of the commanding officer (CO) of the BrahMos unit and two other officers, as was then reported by TOI.
The incident, fortunately, took place in a barren uninhabited area, far from densely populated regions.An IAF officer said, “an inert air practice store” was “inadvertently released” from the fighter due to “a technical malfunction”, without specifying whether it was a bomb, missile or some other weapon.
“An inquiry has been ordered to investigate the incident. No damage to life or property on the ground has been reported,” he added. Ahead of the Phase-II of the multi-nation `Tarang Shakti’ air combat exercise that begins in Jodhpur on Aug 29, IAF fighters from different air-bases have been practicing air-to-ground bombing missions at the Chandan firing range in the Pokhran area.
A resident of Rathora village, Khiv Singh, said the aircraft was seen flying at a very low altitude over the village. Shortly thereafter, a loud explosion was heard around two km away. Villagers rushed to the site and found an 8-feet deep crater with pieces of a bomb-like object scattered around.
“It does not seem to be a `live’ missile or bomb with all the explosives. Otherwise, it would have caused much more damage on the ground. When a new weapon is being tried or a training mission is being conducted, the usual norm is to use inert bombs,” another officer said.
The armed forces regularly test their weapons and conduct firing exercises at Pokhran, with the Army and IAF having different firing ranges. The “air armament stores” basically refer to the munitions carried on a fighter’s “hard points” located on the fuselage or wings.
The incident on Wednesday was relatively minor compared to the “accidental launch” of a 290-km range BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, which had landed 124-km inside Pakistan, by an IAF ground unit on March 9, 2022.
The unarmed BrahMos – which is a conventional (non-nuclear) precision-strike weapon – had crashed harmlessly near Mian Chunnu town in Pakistan within seven minutes of the launch.
The grave operational lapse and “deviation from the standard operations procedure”, which could have triggered a retaliation from Pakistan, had led to the sacking of the commanding officer (CO) of the BrahMos unit and two other officers, as was then reported by TOI.
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