There are many reasons to rejoice at the opening of the Kartarpur corridor, but we will need to watch out against subversion in particular. Pakistan has ulterior motives to waive visa to encourage the number of visitors. It is India which needs to be on its guard. Politicos underplay security perspective for own reasons.

Lt Gen NPS Hira (Retd)
Former Deputy Chief of Army Staff

There are a number of reports about Pakistan trying to revive militancy in Punjab, besides dropping weapons for use by militants in Kashmir. Given the past diabolic history of the ISI in Punjab, such incidents are no surprise. India is soon to permit 5,000 pilgrims to visit Kartarpur Sahib every day. To avoid any trouble in future, it is important to look at our experience with Pakistan so far.

There were perhaps more players responsible for Punjab militancy within the country than outside. The political parties of the day had their equitable share in the problem. The Punjab police, silent spectators at one stage, later rose to the occasion to get the state out of the dire mess. There is one dimension of the conflict which was not unmasked in its entirety: the role of Pakistan’s ISI.

Intelligence operations being covert in nature, escape attention. The only agencies which get to know about their designs are the security forces or the adversary agencies. A first-hand authentic account of the ISI, which indeed was an eye-opener to the world about its capability, was narrated by Brigadier Mohammad Yousaf of the Pakistan army who was in charge of the ISI’s Afghanistan operations. The revealed magnitude of the operation and the audacity of the ISI shook everyone. Around the same time, the ISI had a parallel operation going on in Punjab, equally notorious. 

The major intelligence agencies of Pakistan are the ISI, IB and military intelligence. It was the poor performance of Pakistan’s IB in 1947-48 war against India that led to the raising of the ISI. It was an external intelligence agency with a major focus on India. General Ayub Khan was distrustful of Bengali police officers in East Pakistan IB. Therefore, he decided to assign the task of internal intelligence of East Pakistan to the ISI. As time went by, there was an increase in the mandate of the ISI in the internal matters to include West Pakistan. When India began to have problems in Nagaland and Mizoram, a separate cell was added in the ISI to exploit trouble in the North-East. Thereafter, a separate cell was raised to assist Sikh Home Rule movement which was in its nascent stage at that time. It was General Zia-ul-Haq who assigned the entire internal intelligence of Pakistan to the ISI. His prime motive was to keep surveillance on his main adversary Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and the Pakistan People’s Party. Since then, there have been occasional efforts by the Pakistan government to cut down the ISI mandate, with little success.

To begin with, the Khalistan movement was majorly an expatriate venture. It was a master stroke of General Zia-ul-Haq, who shifted the centre of gravity of the Khalistan movement to Pakistan. Zia’s problem was the existing antipathy between the Sikhs and the Muslims, arising out of India-Pakistan partition violence. To mitigate that, he got the Sikh shrines in Pakistan restored and encouraged Sikh pilgrimage. He provided logistics and international propaganda to the movement through Pakistani press. The hypothesis was that keeping Punjab destabilised through militancy was equivalent to Pakistan having an extra army division in war against India at no cost, which holds good even today.

Add to that, the internal politics of Punjab at that time had made the state vulnerable. The evidence of the ISI support to the Khalistan movement can be assessed from the fact that after Operation Bluestar in 1984, the Army recovered 560 rifles, 40 light-machine guns, 90 carbines, 150 pistols and two anti-tank rocket launchers from the temple complex. The ammunition recovered was enough to last a sustained battle for days. The recovery of machine guns and anti-tank rocket launchers in such numbers is a clear evidence of the support from across the border. Had it not been for the support, guidance and training imparted by Pakistan, a state-level law and order problem could not have reached a crescendo. The problem had to be dealt with a fierce war-level action. The Indian Army suffered more than 300 casualties and injuries in one night.

The ISI is a bad word not only in India, but across the globe. It is the largest intelligence agency in the world. It is assessed to be around 10,000 officers and staff, in addition to its informers and assets. Its methods include lobbying and influencing opinions about Pakistan through think tanks in important cities the world over.  Some studies have assessed it to be among the highest rated intelligence agencies. The BBC rated it at number two in the world, next only to Mossad of Israel. The Guantanamo Bay file leaks show that the US considers the ISI to be a terrorist organisation as dangerous as the Al-Qaeda.

During the Punjab militancy, the ISI modus operandi was to fuel the local issues between Sikhs and Hindus by engineering acts of desecration and propaganda. Unaware of ulterior designs, Punjab militants played into the ISI’s hands. Punjab, at present, is peaceful but some local issues can be fomented. Pakistan has been constantly pursuing the policy of ‘death by thousand cuts’ against India. The ISI is very pathological about its work, always on the lookout to create and exploit dissensions.

Our experience so far with the Line of Control (LoC) and border crossings established between India and Pakistan is that the ISI has been constantly at work to trickle in fake currency, drugs, weapons besides subversion. There are many reasons to rejoice at the opening of the Kartarpur corridor, but we will need to watch out against subversion in particular. Pakistan has ulterior motives to waive visa to encourage the number of visitors. It is India which needs to be on the guard. As I saw it happen when trade was opened between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad in 2008, politicos tend to downplay the security perspective for their own reasons. The trade was opened without even installing full-body truck scanners. The trade route has become an additional avenue for the ISI to smuggle in currency and weapons.

Any mass crossing of the border or LoC, on whatever account, has been seen to serve as a coordination place for the ISI’s sources and militant organisations. Such meeting points obviate the need for using radio or mobile communications, which are susceptible to interception by security forces. Therefore, there must be no complacency and short-cuts in monitoring the visitors and installing the biometric equipment, including face recognition software, at the ICP. Given the past experience and desperation of Pakistan, seen after the revocation of Article 370, it may be naive to think the ISI will let go of any such opportunity. Our intelligence agencies are up against one more challenge.

New Delhi, October 20

The Congress on Sunday hailed the Army’s action of destroying terror camps across the LoC, saying it is proud of the armed forces’ valour.

In a major counter-offensive after Pakistan’s unprovoked firing, the Indian Army on Sunday carried out heavy artillery strikes targeting four terror launch pads and several Pakistani military positions in Neelam Valley in PoK, killing 6-10 of their soldiers and as many terrorists, according to Army Chief Bipin Rawat.

“Another spectacular campaign in the direction of destroying terrorist camps across the border by the brave Indian Army. We are proud of your valour and courage,” Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said in a tweet.

Asked about the exchange of firing at the border, Haryana Congress chief Kumari Selja, at a press conference here, said, “The Indian Army has always kept India’s borders safe. We are proud of our army and we have full confidence on the armed forces that they will protect our borders. Our army is fully capable.”

Six to 10 Pakistan Army personnel were killed and three terror camps destroyed in a retaliatory action by the Army opposite the Tangdhar sector in Jammu and Kashmir, Rawat said. — PTI 

Islamabad: The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has decided, in principle, to keep Pakistan in its Grey List till February 2020, directing Islamabad to take extra measures for complete elimination of terror financing and money laundering, according to media reports on Wednesday.

The FATF is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.

In a meeting in Paris on Tuesday, the FATF reviewed the measures that Pakistan has already taken to control money laundering and terror financing, reported Dawn News.

The Paris-based task force has urged Pakistan to take extra measures for complete elimination of terror financing, it quoted Aaj TV. The FATF will take a final decision on Pakistan’s position in February 2020.

A formal announcement about the interim developments will be made on Friday, which is the last day of the FATF’s ongoing session, the report said.

However, Pakistan’s Finance Ministry spokesperson Omar Hameed Khan rejected the reports of the country remaining in the Grey List, saying “it is not true and nothing before October 18 (can be confirmed)”. The FATF has decided to give respite of four months to Pakistan to help her implement remaining recommendations of the task force, Aaj TV reported.

Earlier at the FATF meeting in Paris, Pakistan’s Minister for Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar had explained his country’s positive performance in 20 of the 27 parameters to check terror financing.

China, Turkey and Malaysia “appreciated” the steps taken by Pakistan, Dawn News reported. The support of at least three countries is required to not blacklist any country.

At the Tuesday meeting, India recommended the blacklisting of Pakistan citing Islamabad permitting Hafiz Saeed to withdraw funds from his frozen accounts, the report said. The meeting is being attended by representatives from 205 countries, the IMF, the UN, the World Bank and other organisations.

Concerns were also raised on the tax amnesty scheme offered in Pakistan, the report added.

Pakistan was placed on the Grey List by the Paris-based watchdog in June last year and was given a plan of action to complete it by October 2019, or face the risk of being placed on the black list with Iran and North Korea.

If Pakistan continues in the ‘Grey List’, it would be very difficult for the country to get financial aid from the IMF, the World Bank and the European Union, making its financial condition more precarious. Islamabad is obligated to report its performance to the group every three months.

Air Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria, the new Chief of Air Staff, claimed in a press conference that the days of importing jets were over and that the Indian Air Force will now throw its entire weight behind the fifth generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft. This seemingly innocuous statement reveals the deep malaise in our defence thinking, born from a lack of institutional handover of knowledge. To understand what could go wrong with the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), we need to look at what went wrong with the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), the homegrown Tejas. After all, the only reason we still fly the “flying coffin” MiG 21s is because of the inordinate delay in the induction of the fourth generation Tejas – the aircraft whose maiden flight took place in 2001 but which is yet to be operationalised 18 years later. This is when the US, Russia, and China have started fielding fifth generation fighters with the US operationalising the F22 back in 2005. Misplaced priorities To start with, both “light” and “indigenous” had become anachronistic even before the Tejas took its first flight. When the aircraft was conceived in an era before fly by wire (fbw) system was introduced, “light” denoted manoeuvrability. Recall how the original Maruti 800 was once considered much easier to drive than the bulky Ambassador, but the entry of electronic steering made even a huge BMW 7 Series just as easy to drive as a minuscule Tata Nano. This obsession with “light” meant that when, within the 4th generation, the emphasis shifted from kinetics to electronics, sometime in the mid-1990s, Tejas had neither the extra power nor the space to accommodate the additional electronics such as data boxes, secure network devices, built-in countermeasures and associated wiring. Moreover, it became painfully obvious that India, still a third world pre-industrial country, did not possess either the industrial depth or width to produce the entire gamut of electronics required to facilitate this change of focus in fourth generation aircraft. Additionally, the need to be “indigenous” was born in an era before the collapse of the USSR, when India was subject to severe technology transfer restrictions, which were rapidly and progressively lifted after US President Bill Clinton’s visit in 1999. In short, by the time the very first Tejas flight came around in 2001, the rationale to be light and indigenous had both evaporated. More significantly, 18 years on, we still haven’t internalised these changes or learnt from our mistakes. Rooting for a ‘deeply flawed’ AMCA While Britain is moving forward with a sixth-generation aircraft, India is pondering rudimentary and deeply flawed designs for a fifth generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft, despite being so far behind the technology curve. Why is AMCA flawed? For starters, much like the Tejas, the AMCA seems to focus on paradigms of combat that have long since been bypassed. Defence and foreign policy expert Pushan Das and I had written about this extensively in 2015. A summary of the findings from our analysis are as follows: 1) Too much emphasis on engine thrust and thrust vectoring despite close-range air combat having moved away from G force manoeuvring to get into an attack position to Angle of Attack, which emphasises maintaining power and recovery from a steep manoeuvre. 2) A continuing emphasis on kinetics as opposed to understanding that a fifth generation aircraft is essentially a computer in the air, able to cut short the processing time, and reduce the ‘detect to kill chain’ (the time taken between detecting and killing an aircraft – essentially the ability to detect first and shoot first, and in the case of stealth, hopefully avoid being detected) by several tens of seconds (the difference between life and death). 3) The lack of emphasis on deep networking with other detection and attack assets, which form the basis of the fifth generation combat that allow it to hand over time-critical information to assets that may be better positioned or equipped to fire the first shot. 4) No thought was given to a new range of smaller but long-range weapons to be carried in sufficient numbers concealed within the body of the aircraft. 5) No thought was given to conformal sensors that blended into the aircraft’s body or new materials like cockpit canopies that allow the pilot to look outside but prevent radars from detecting the cockpit (which is a major problem as it is not stealthed up like the rest of the aircraft’s body) or frequency selective radome materials that perform the same function for the radar (allow the radar to function unimpeded, while preventing the radar’s flat surface from being detected by other radars). 6) A range chart that seemed horrendously muddled, implying that the twin-engine AMCA would cover the same range in twice the amount of fuel that an F-35 would with half the fuel. Given these serious conceptualisation flaws that do not bode well from a project and risk management point of view, besides the industrial supply chain problems inherent in the Tejas, we now run a very high risk of chasing another white elephant. It’s one thing that the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) did not learn anything from its failures — natural given it is a public sector undertaking with no accountability or risk. But the Indian Air Force’s failure to internalise these lessons after so many crashes and deaths and capability shortages is simply appalling.

idrw.org .Read more at India No 1 Defence News Website https://idrw.org/air-chief-bhadaurias-focus-on-homegrown-amca-shows-iaf-learnt-nothing-from-tejas-failure/ .

Tribune Web Desk
Chandigarh, October 10

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday got nostalgic remembering his days in the Army. On National Post Day, Captain thanked India Post Office for their services.

In a tweet, Captain gave a “salute” to India Post Office. He revealed how receiving a letter from home, used to be his driving force. Along with a heartfelt note, he shared a picture of himself in his uniform.

In the black and white picture, Captain can be seen sitting near a bunker. 

He wrote: “Nothing can beat the feeling of receiving a letter from home in the army! It used to be our driving force during my army days & these letters brought both tears & smiles. I salute @IndiaPostOffice for their service to the nation & thank them for the memories. #NationalPostDay.”

Indian Air Force chief R K S Bhadauria

Hindon, October 8

The strategic relevance of the Balakot strike reflected the resolve of the political leadership to punish the perpetrators of terrorism and this has been a major shift in the government’s way of handling terrorist attacks, Indian Air Force chief R K S Bhadauria said on Tuesday.

In his Air Force Day message, Bhadauria, who took charge as the Chief of Air Staff a little more than a week ago, said to ensure operational success in all future operations, the IAF must maintain a high serviceability of combat equipment and exceptional training standards.

“The strategic relevance of this is the resolve of the political leadership to punish the perpetrators of terrorism and the capability of the IAF to execute a strike inside Pakistan. This has been a major shift in the government’s way of handling terrorists attacks,” Bhadauria said in a written message on the 87^th anniversary of the Indian Air Force.

In a separate address at the Hindon Air Base, he also pointed out that the geo-political environment has been rapidly changing and uncertainties have created numerous challenges to national security.

“It is extremely important that we are always vigilant and alert to the existing sub-conventional threat. In the year gone by, the IAF has demonstrated its resolve and capability in punishing the perpetrators of terrorism and we need to be ever prepared to meet any contingency that challenges the defence of our country,” the Air Force chief said, referring to the Balakot strikes.

Post the Pulwama attack on February 14 that killed 40 CRPF personnel, the IAF launched air strikes on terror camps at Balakot in Pakistan.

Bhadauria said the IAF also acknowledges the contributions of all personnel of commands, stations and units who silently and professionally contributed to the success of the air strikes on the terrorist camps at Balakot earlier this year. —PTI

By YUSUF UNJHAWALA

There have been interesting and varied reactions to the idea that it will be better for the Indian Air Force (IAF) to put in all its efforts on the 5th generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) and cancel the 4th generation LCA MkII which is now known as the Medium Weight Fighter (MWF) program. While
some have been supportive, others don’t think the MWF should be scrapped. Their arguments are that the MWF is required and without the learning from it, India will not be able to make the AMCA. Another argument is that it is needed to replace the Mirage-2000, MiG-29 and Jaguar fleets. Some others fear that any
delay in the development of the AMCA will leave a hole while killing the LCA program.

First of all, the MWF is not required to make the AMCA. The AMCA was a separate development program and is not intended to succeed the LCA. The  technologies and learnings from the LCA Mk1 and the LCA Mk1A will help the DRDO, HAL, ADA and the private sector companies involved to make the AMCA. This was also stated by the HAL CMD R Madhavan. Interestingly, this was in December 2018 when the LCA MkII had not changed into the bigger MWF. Earlier In April 2018, the then Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha stated that the feasibility study for the programme has been already completed So clearly, the making of the MWF has no bearing on the future manufacturing of the AMCA.

The LCA program which was initiated to replace the MiG-21 did not envision a larger MWF as a follow up. After the shortcomings of the LCA Mk1, the LCA MkII
was to be re-engined with a more powerful GE-414 from the current GE-404 along with the advanced avionics and weapons capabilities with modifications to the
airframe. The delays in getting the LCA MkII project led to the LCA Mk1A with upgrades as demanded by the IAF – primarily, the AESA radar and electronic warfare suite.

The Medium Combat Aircraft (MCA) was envisioned in the middle of the 1990s to replace the Mirage and Jaguar fighter jets. As that project didn’t take off, it transformed into the AMCA project in 2010 which the IAF saw as the replacement for its Mirage, MiG-29 and Jaguar fleets. So the question of the recently announced MWF being the replacement for these jets does not arise and is not dependent on it.

The fear of delays in AMCA leaving a hole in capabilities while killing the LCA project is unfounded. Perhaps those saying so doubt the capabilities of our scientists and engineers to deliver. The LCA project is not being killed as a total of 123 jets are on order as on date. But delays in giving full backing to the AMCA will hurt the project as both the LCA Mk1A and MkII projects will run parallelly taking majority of the resources and effort. In fact the LCA project itself could benefit from the AMCA project. The advanced sensors and other technologies that will be developed for the fifth generation AMCA can be used to upgrade the LCA and make it a potent platform. This can potentially lead to an LCA Mk1B model in the future which the IAF will find useful to order in certain numbers. This is what Lockheed Martin has done with the F-16 block 70 which draws from technologies developed for its F-35 5th generation fighter. Incidentally, it is one of the contenders for India’s medium range combat aircraft acquisition project.

Since there are reports of interest in the LCA from other countries, India will have a potent product to offer for export after the requirements of the IAF are completed.

The Indian Navy (IN) will not have an indigenous option if the AMCA is not developed at the earliest as it has rejected the LCA for carrier operations. The IN has stated that it will only buy the AMCA even as it backs the testing of technologies for naval operations with the Naval LCA. The IN operates one aircraft carrier, the INS Vikramaditya and building a second which will be named INS Vikrant. The IN is also going to build a much larger third carrier that will carry twice the number of aircrafts with assisted take off. The carrier which is likely to enter service sometime in the mid 2030s will require about 100 fighter jets.

In the absence of an indigenous option, the navy will be forced to look for an imported jet. It is already looking to buy 57 fighter jets for which the French Rafale and the American F/A-18 Super Hornet are in contention. The navy will also need a replacement for its 45 MiG-29s that currently are in service. The potential requirement for the AMCA from both the IAF and the IN is nearly 400 jets. The time frame for that acquisition to start is in the next 12-15 years. This will only be possible if there is complete backing and support for the AMCA so that it enters production in that timeframe.

Yusuf Unjhawala is a military affairs analyst and Editor of Indian Defence Forum. His work appears in Livefist, Mint, The Print and other publications. His views are his own and may not reflect those of Livefist.

Also read: More Than Tejas, The IAF Needs To Take Over AMCA Project NOW

Sandeep Dikshit in New Delhi

Kashmir of 2019 is definitely very different from the troubled Valley we have been witness to for the past three decades. Leave alone the diminishing of the politico-governance arrangement from that of a full state to a mere Union Territory with the loss of Ladakh to boot. Also leave alone the scrapping of Article 370, a temporary provision as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar never tires of educating his audience at American think-tanks, while omitting to mention that it was provisional only till a plebiscite was held.

These two injuries to the Kashmiri psyche are enough cause for the vulnerable and the young to rally to the militant banner. But a more potent one worries Intelligence officials. It has not yet made it to TV chat shows and newspaper articles. Yet it lurks at the back of the Indian Intelligence’s calculations. This is the ebbing of Palestine as the cause célèbre for the activist Muslim all over the world.

Once the second Intifada petered out into the 2008-09 Israel-Gaza conflict and a right wing government took power in Tel Aviv, the Palestine cause has lost a lot of its emotional power to rally Muslims. If not in sending fighters, then in making contributions and providing them moral and diplomatic support.

Impending threat

After the restrictions ease in Kashmir and there is the inevitable violence if the citizenry faces off with the security forces, it is the cheerleaders of the thus-far mythically united Muslim ummah (community) whom India’s Intelligence community will be closely watching.

Security forces would not like to acknowledge, but they have had considerable help in Kashmir from the division among the militancy’s sponsors over the ideology. When militancy first took roots in Kashmir, armed groups were at odds over the end goal: should Kashmir be a part of Pakistan or should it be an independent country?

At times, the armed gangs decimated each other to the delight of the security establishment. Sometimes one group would walk over to the side of the security forces to eliminate their rivals. In one celebrated case, the leader of a gang of gunmen who crossed over became an MLA after one of the poorly patronised elections. At that time, there was little effort at mediation by the sponsors of terrorism sitting in different countries. This was partly because they were involved in other pressing violent mayhem in the Balkans, Chechnya, Indonesia, etc.

It was also because Pakistan kept the insurgency at a low boil. The intention never was to wrest Kashmir valley. It has known that the Indian armed forces have made that impossible. The aim behind frequent violence in the Valley was to deplete New Delhi’s political capital to force it into talks with Islamabad. Pakistan’s bottomline was freezing the Line of Control (LoC) into a de-facto border.

The new reality

Once the equations changed in Kashmir valley, the bets should be off on the other side too. Till a month before the August 5 clampdown, a new rivalry was playing out among militant groups. On one side were groups like Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) or Hizbul Mujahideen that want political independence or Kashmir’s merger into Pakistan. On the other, groups like ISJK (Islamic State for Jammu & Kashmir) or AGH (Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind) that want to set up an Islamic Caliphate and are affiliated with Islamic State and Al Qaida.

Days before the clampdown, the Army shot dead a few militants in separate encounters. What was unusual was that they were earlier with LeT and had crossed over to ISJK and AGH. There is a strong possibility one group had tipped the security forces about the newly converted Islamic State and Al Qaida fighters.

Though the ISI views the Islamic State and Al Qaida as adversaries in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the security agencies are weighing if the circumstances have changed enough in Kashmir for it to make an alliance with the pan-Islamic ideology driven terror organisations.

The ISI is up against a stable government whose Kashmir policy is driven by the quartet of Modi-Doval-Amit Shah-Bipin Rawat. On the other hand, the desperate appeals of business tycoons to Pakistan’s army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa indicate the economy is severely malfunctioning. Pakistan’s rulers will need a diversion. The old methods may not work with the Indian quartet on Kashmir.

This is where the role of ideologues of armed ‘jihad’ scattered all over the world becomes crucial. Kashmir is the cause that unites all of them as Palestine goes on the backburner, Syria enters a stalemate and the war in Yemen unravels badly for the Sunnis.

Dealing with global backers

India has been well-served in the past by the distractions of the flag-bearers of a united Muslim ummah. This time, India has worked on countries such as Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and UAE that claim this pedestal while Nigeria and Sudan have remained largely neutral. But others such as Malaysia, Turkey and Iran have remained immune to the persuasion by South Block. Their stance gives legitimacy to activists of the Muslim cause to attempt to heal the breach among the jihadis in the Kashmir valley.

The clampdown since August 5 has ensured that the regular season of infiltration has been nipped in the bud. The US, as long as it can, will be holding Imran Khan to his promise to keep a check on cross-border terrorism. Forces inimical to India will have to make do with the current lot of jihadis bottled up in the Valley to create much more than a ripple. But the communications clampdown in the Valley is delaying attempts at rapprochement between the groups.

ISI will be going against its grain if it concedes ground to pan-Islamists. It had sheltered Al Qaida leaders in Pakistan after 9/11 but was equally quick to hand them over to the Americans to keep the military aid spigot flowing. Osama bin Laden was permitted limited contact with his comrades. Now that the old tactics of calibrated violence have not worked with the Modi government since 2014, ISI could consider throwing the kitchen sink. But if it does so, it would do so knowing that the more virulent brand of terrorism, Al Qaida and Islamic State, need a short spell of abetment before they become out-of- control monsters.

Air Marshal Harjit Singh Arora assumes the office of Vice Chief of Air Staff at Air HQ, in New Delhi on Tuesday, October 1, 2019. PTI

New Delhi, October 1

Air Marshal Harjit Singh Arora, who has a total flying experience of over 2,600 hours, was on Tuesday appointed the new vice chief of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

Arora succeeds Air Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria who was appointed the new IAF chief on Monday.

Prior to being appointed the vice chief, Arora, who was awarded the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal in 2011, was the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the South Western Air Command at Gandhinagar in Gujarat. The position of the chief of South Western Command was in turn taken over by Air Marshal S.K. Ghotia on Tuesday. Ghotia is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy (NDA) and is a batchmate of Arora, both of whom were commissioned as fighter pilots in December 1981.

According to defence officials, Air Marshal Arora has rich and diverse experience of accident-free operational flying which includes several fighter aircraft, including the MiG 21, the MiG 29 and other aircraft including helicopters. A graduate of the Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment of the Defence Service Staff College and National Defence College, Arora has commanded a MiG 21 squadron in the South Western sector where he was later also appointed as the Commander of Air Defence Direction Centre.

Arora holds a Master of Science in Defence Studies and Master of Philosophy in Defence and Strategic Studies.

Arora has not only commanded a premier MiG 29 Base but has also, as an Air Vice Marshal, been appointed the Air Defence Commander at Headquarters Western Air Command and Eastern Air Command.

As an Air Marshal, Arora has held the appointments of Director General (Inspection & Safety) and Director General Air (Operations) at the Air headquarters.

Arora was a Directing Staff at Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment and has been a Flying Inspector in the Directorate of Air Staff Inspection. He also brings in a certain amount of diplomatic experience because he served as India’s Defence Attache in the Embassy of India, Bangkok, Thailand from 2006 to 2009. He has also served as Honorary Air Force ADC to the President of India. — IANS