BrahMos and INS Vikrant have the immense capability but also expose India’s short-sightedness

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BrahMos units like the one involved in the accidental firing into Pakistan continue to be stationed in the west when such assets should be deployed against China.
A BrahMos missile without a warhead hitting the target area under Andaman and Nicobar Command this month | Representational image | Andaman and Nicobar Command

A BrahMos missile without a warhead hitting the target area under Andaman and Nicobar Command this month | Representational image | Andaman and Nicobar Command

The accidental firing of an unarmed BrahMos missile into Pakistan has resulted in the sacking of three Air Force officers. In all probability, the speed and mode of delivering justice, within five months of the incident, must have been guided by the imperatives of secrecy.
While the accident could not have occurred without the failure of safety systems at multiple levels, the human error must have been the prime culprit. Moreover, it was not a combat situation where the psychological impact of danger and uncertainty could have fuelled the error, which was the case in the accidental shooting down of a Mi-17 helicopter in Kashmir, a day after the Balakot air strike, that resulted in the death of six IAF personnel and one civilian. Two IAF officers were punished.
The impact in the recent BrahMos case, however, was more in terms of national embarrassment. Fortuitously, the absence of damage to life and property stymied Pakistan’s reaction and the rationality demonstrated by its authorities prevented crisis escalation.

Also read: Missiles, malfunctions, nuke myths: Lessons for India, Pakistan from BrahMos mistake

Taking BrahMos beyond the uni-Service perspective
BrahMos missile, which carries a conventional warhead, is the outcome of a successful India-Russia joint venture that commenced in the late 1990s. The supersonic cruise missile is now operational with all three armed forces, with the IAF having incorporated it as a weapons system in the Su-30. The missile gives the Indian military a definite advantage because it is a good mix of the range of the aircraft with the range of the missile.
Recent reports indicate that the range of the missile has been increased from 290 km to 350-400 km and in addition, there is an anti-ship version that can boost India’s strategic reach in the Indian Ocean, a reach that is aided by India’s island territories like Andaman and Nicobar. But it cannot substitute for seaborne naval aviation in the form of an aircraft carrier. The aircraft carrier not only provides air cover to the surface fleet but also facilitate anti-submarine capabilities through the carriage of airborne platforms by way of fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters.
The operational potential of the BrahMos missile lies in its ability to damage or destroy the critical infrastructure of the adversary. The land-based mobile platform and the air-based Su-30 can provide a deadly combination to interdict the adversary’s lines of communication and critical infrastructure, especially through the destruction of bridges, air bases, ammunition depots, etc. Ideally, the bulk of India’s BrahMos assets should be deployed against China as the mountainous terrain provides scope for interdicting the crucial and challenging operational logistics needed by offensive forces. However, due to legacy reasons and our reluctance to rebalance from the western to the northern front, BrahMos units like the one involved in the accidental firing continue to be deployed on the west. The case for thickening up land and air-based BrahMos assets on the northern border is strong, especially when these assets are mobile and can be redeployed with adequate prior preparatory measures.
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