IAF prepared to fight across entire spectrum of warfare: Air Force chief

The Indian Air Force (IAF) is ready for any kind of warfare, be it a skirmish like Kargil conflict, retaliation to a militant attack or an all-out war, Air Force Chief B S Dhanoa said Tuesday.

Addressing a seminar on ’20 years of Op SafedSagar’, Dhanoa, who was then the Commanding Officer of 17 Squadron andoperating from Srinagar, recalled the air action that took place during theKargil conflict.

   

It was for the first time that the MiG-21 aircraftcarried out air-to-ground bombing at night in the mountains, he said.

Operation Safed Sagar was carried out by the AirForce in Operation Vijay to drive out infiltrators from Kargil. 

Dhanoa spoke about the operational limitations thatexisted in 1999 and the innovative ways adopted by the IAF to overcome the difficultiesduring the conflict.

The developments which took place post Kargil warhave transformed the Air Force in capability so as to counter any kind of airthreat in conventional and sub-conventional domains of warfare, he said.

“The IAF is prepared to fight across theentire spectrum of warfare, be it an all-out war, a skirmish like Kargilconflict or retaliation to a terrorist attack,” the Air Force Chief said.

Early this year, after the Pulwama attack thatkilled 40 CRPF personnel, the Air Force launched air strikes at a camp inBalakot, deep inside Pakistani territory.

During the Kargil conflict, precision bombingcapabilities which existed only on Mirage-2000 are now also available on Su-30,Jaguar, MiG-29 and MiG-27 upgraded aircraft, Dhanoa noted.

At present, BVR (beyond-visual-range) missiles arecarried by MiG-29, Su-30 and Mirage-2000 aircraft.

The IAF has the Airborne Warning and Control System(AWACS) aircraft to monitor the airspace deep inside the enemy territory and operateson secure communication with network-centric warfare capabilities, he said.

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