Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, May 31: Few days after Air Force chief BS Dhanoa called upon the IAF personnel to be ready for any kind of operations within a short notice of time, Western Command chief of Indian Air Force (IAF), Air Marshal C Hari Kumar visited several forward locations in and around Jammu to review operational preparedness of the troops and called upon them to maintain continued vigil.
His visit to forward locations assumed significance not only in the wake of Dhanoa’s letter to 1200 officers of IAF in which he had highlighted importance of preparedness at short notices but also in view of Defence Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that readiness of the troops is best deterrent to ensure peace in the region.
Sources told the Excelsior that Air Marshal C Hari Kumar, the Air Officer Command-ing-in-Chief, West-ern Air Command, which controls the air fields, used by the fighter planes to take off, in Jammu region had detailed review of operational preparedness of the Air Force here with senior officers including Air Commodore, Air Officer Chief (AOC) Jammu SK Mishra.
He reviewed existing security scenario in the region and called upon the officers and staff to maintain continued vigil, which was need of the hour under the present circumstances especially in view of strained relations between India and Pakistan.
According to sources, entire gamut of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir especially along frontiers with Pakistan came up for a high-level review during the meeting in which Air Marshal C Hari Kumar was reported to have called upon the troops to maintain extraordinary vigil on the situation and always remain in the state of preparedness to deal with any kind of situation in view of strained relations between two already hostile neighbours (India and Pakistan) after mutilation of two Indian soldiers in Krishna Ghati sector and major counter-terrorism operations taken along LoC by the Army in Nowshera sector.
Air Marshal C Hari Kumar also visited various forward units in the region and had extensive review of operations, maintenance and administrative aspects. He also had inter-action with senior Air Force officers, Air Warriors, DSC personnel and civilian staff during his visit to the State.
During his visit to forward areas, the Western Command Air chief met with troops and Field Commanders of units deployed there and reviewed with them their preparedness to undertake any kind of operations in the State, sources said, adding that Kumar lauded professionalism of the personnel and exhorted them to constantly strive to achieve even higher standards in all spheres of activity.
Meanwhile, reliable sources told the Excelsior that the Indian Air Force was examining the possibilities of converting certain stretches of Jammu-Pathankot, Jammu-Srinagar and Srinagar-Leh National Highways and Jammu-Poonch road as temporary air strips for take off and land of fighter jets in case of undertaking emergency operations.
“The proposal was being explored vigorously and certain locations were under consideration,” sources said, adding that this was part of the Air Force strategy to get ready to undertake operations within the shortest possible time.
In an unprecedented move, IAF chief Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa had recently called upon the IAF officers and jawans to be prepared for operations at a very short notice and focus their training taking persistent sub-conventional threat into account.
The Air Force chief had given the directions in a letter written to 1200 officers of the IAF across the country including Jammu and Kashmir referring to sub-conventional threat and need for the Air Force personnel to be in combat mode in a very short span of time.
Referring to present scenario, albeit without touching the worsening ties between India and Pakistan, the IAF chief had said: “there is an ever persistent sub-conventional threat and, therefore, we need to be prepared for operations with our present holdings, at a very short notice”.
In the letter, which was stated to be first and rare of its kind, the Indian Air Force chief had highlighted four very significant issues including sub-conventional threat, preparedness by the IAF personnel at a very short notice, increased vigilance by the personnel in view of cross-border skirmishes and focus of the IAF training taking these aspects into account.
He had referred to skirmishes and prevailing situation along the borders as major reasons for preparations towards combat ready in short span of time.
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