Estonia: Spanish pilot erroneously fired missile last year

HELSINKI – Estonia says the pilot of a Spanish Air Force fighter jet on a NATO air exercise in Estonia last year mistakenly fired an air-to-air missile because of a “failure to comply with the safety rules” and ruled out “a systematic error.”

The Estonian defence ministry said Thursday that the AMRAAM-type air-to-air missile posed no threat nor caused any injuries, and existing regulations and rules already in place were sufficient.

Estonia ordered a temporary halt to NATO air exercises in the Baltic country after the Aug. 7 incident.

The unrecovered missile carried up to 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of explosives and was last located around 40 kilometres (24 miles) north of Estonia’s second city of Tartu.

It has a built-in self-destruct for such accidents but may have landed.