Remembrances Three – 1 / 2022 30, January, 2022

8th December 2021 : Most tragic Helicopter Accident resulted in precious loss of 14 Defense Personnel Including the first CDS of the Armed Forces (General Bipin Rawat). COI is complete an has squirrely blamed the pilot. Ruling out the possibility of technical failure or Sabotage. Was it an avoidable accident ? Yes. Only a distance of 50 Km. was to be covered time 20 minutes including taxying and take off. The hepter should have flown 2000 feet above the terrain clearance and descendent over head DSSC helipad in VMC condition only. If VMC condition were not established the hepter should have gone back to SULUR. The preflight briefing should have been attended by the COO, or the AOC. After all it was a VIP flight, The importance of preflight briefing can’t be diluted. A word about CDS’s thought process on the Air Power. He had stated one of his stated earlier “In Our Context Air Force is an extended Arm of Air borne Artillery. This is misconception in our context. Air power is dominant force to destroy the enemy’s war potential First. This was amply displayed during the 71 war. When the IAF had neutralized the war waging machinery of the Paki’s in the first three days itself. Which facilitated the Early Surrender in the East Pak. The IAF utilized all possible Air effort. (Air Craft like OTTER’s, CARIBOUS and AN-12 Air Craft Suitably modified for Bombing Role. Even the Soviets were surprised). Thought process of Theater Command. This is OK for US Forces who have global deployment, and more than 7000 combat Air Craft. Where as IAF has barely 700 Air Craft. Snippets 1- On 5th January, 2022 The PM was to address a political rally in Felozpur (Punjab) He was to have flown by a helicopter from Bhatinda to his destination. May be due to weather constraints, it was decided to move by road. Undoubtedly the PM’s security is utmost. The overall responsibility lies with the SPG. The SPG full authority to change the route and advice the PM on the alternates may be the Hon’ble PM was not willing to accept the SPG advise due to political compulsions. 70000 chairs w/s the presence of 700 was a tricky factor ?. Many more write-up on Defense & National Security issues and Happenings around the world read Go on : http://airmarshalashokgoel.blogspot.com/ JAI HIND – JAI BHARAT

Remembrances Two – 12 / 2021 02 January 2022

A Happy New Year 2022 To All 1962 – Indo-China War : Post 1962 operations China Study Group was established to asses the short falls in the North-East. Primarily the Road Communications. Mainly whole of North East was fed by aerial air maintenance. Initially the task was assigned to Kalinga Airways of Biju Patnayak. All the villages of Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh were Air Maintained. The task for the Air Force was nearly 155000 tons per month. Slowly the task got tapered down to 5000 tons a month. This was due to improved conditions in the north east. Those who say no development have done since independence need to look into the records. 1965 Indo – Pak War : As the war situation had receded this was a time for War Damage Assessment. At Pathankot one of the unserviceable packet Aircraft was damaged. A Parliamentary delegation visited the station. Their visit was planned to No- 12 sqn. dispersal. They were to be briefed; the task was assigned to Tikkoo – a technical officer of the sqn. . All other aircrews were around. Tikkoo started the briefing “I am Pilot Officer Tikkoo all others standing are pilots”. 1971 Libration of Bangladesh War: Very recently some political opportunist have penned down some articles to show Sam Maneck Shaw in a bit of lower heights. Just to highlight IG. It is stated without doubt that both were great leaders one politically and other one militarily. Snippets 1- Capt. Amarinder Singh you have proved a disgress to NDA / Army and now to ESM fraternity in totality. You proved to be a good leader for Punjab, but there is always time to hang your boots. Many more write-up on Defense & National Security issues and Happenings around the world read Go on : http://airmarshalashokgoel.blogspot.com/ JAI HIND – JAI BHARAT