Information needed to be checked
The Air Force commander said that, due to a misunderstanding, incorrect information has been released according to which he had been first informed about the incident only 1.5 hours after the missile had been launched. Valge explained that the Estonian Air Force had received initial report within minutes, but that the information needed to be checked.
“It took half an hour to verify that the report was correct. Within an hour we informed the police and the Rescue Board. After that it took another half-hour to receive definite confirmation about the launching of the missile. An hour and a half is an estimated time that passed before we began the real recovery operation,” Valge said.
The Air Force radar tracked the mistakenly launched missile, but the data did not allow for determining the precise flight path and impact site of the missile. The Air Force Robinson helicopters and land patrols were used yesterday to look for the missile.
According to the Defense Forces chief of staff, Major General Martin Herem, the army takes the incident seriously and makes its conclusions.
“The Ministry of Defense will form a working group in the next few weeks involving all relevant departments, including the Ministry of Economy and Communications. All air exercise procedures will be reviewed. We shall think about what type of exercises will be carried out later, what will be the participants’ rights and where the exercise areas will be,” Herem said.