sudhir007
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2009
- Messages
- 4,728
- Reaction score
- 1
From a silent hill, these men defend India's skies - Rediff.com News
Archana Masih Somewhere near the Pakistan border
Far from civilian populations, facing the onslaught of weather, terrain and a hostile neighbour in the distance, the young men at one of the Indian Air Force's most strategic locations near the Line of Control say life is hard, but tell Rediff.com's Archana Masih they would not have it any other way.
Photographs: Rajesh Karkera/Rediff.com
Also See: Salute the Soldier at the LoC
Up a desolate climb, the road lined with fir trees winds up to a fortified hill from where the Indian Air Force guards India's skies near Pakistan.
"If any aircraft comes near the Line of Control, we have to report it immediately," says Flight Lieutenant Pankaj Singh Malik, 24, who has spent the last nine months of his first posting here, at one of the IAF's most strategic radar locations in Jammu and Kashmir.
Armed men posted on tall observation towers guard this IAF base round the clock, protecting the camouflaged radar that monitors the sky on either side of the Line of Control.
The radar we are at is not far from the LoC -- the cease-fire line that seperates India and Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir -- and has a range that can see within Pakistani territory bordering India.
Less than 50 kilometres away is an area which was a hotbed of terrorism until two years ago. Militancy is under control, but a large troop presence indicates that in J&K soldiers can't afford to let their guard down.
"We report the coordinates of any unidentified aircraft or any aircraft which has strayed from the established flight path. It is then identified and communicated with," says Squadron Leader P Raghunath, 34.
In the event of an armed aircraft entering Indian air space, fighter jets are scrambled and airborne in minutes.
The last time Indian MiGs shot down Pakistani military aircraft was in 1999 -- at the height of Indo-Pak tensions a month after the Kargil conflict -- when a Pakistani naval reconnaissance aircraft with 16 men on board invaded Indian air space in Gujarat.
International convention certifies that if an aircraft does not follow instructions to force-land, it is deemed hostile and can be shot down. Further, a treaty between India and Pakistan states that military combat aircraft have to keep a minimum distance of 10 kilometres from the border.
During the Kargil conflict in 1999, Pakistan shot down an Indian MiG-21 and a Mi-17 helicopter. MiG pilot Squadron Leader Ajay Ahuja was awarded a Vir Chakra posthumously for his rescue attempts to locate the pilot who had ejected in an area dominated by Pakistani infiltrators.
The Mi-17 helicopter on a mission in the icy heights of Tololing was struck by a Stinger missile. Its crew -- Squadron Leader Rajiv Pundir, Flight Lieutenant S Mulihan, Sergeant P V N R Prasad and Sergeant R K Sahu -- had conducted nine daring strike-missions over two days. They were awarded medals for gallantry posthumously and a memorial remembers their heroism at the Sarsawa air force station in Uttar Pradesh.
Sergeant Sahu, the youngest among these heroes, was 28, the only son of his parents.
Archana Masih Somewhere near the Pakistan border
Far from civilian populations, facing the onslaught of weather, terrain and a hostile neighbour in the distance, the young men at one of the Indian Air Force's most strategic locations near the Line of Control say life is hard, but tell Rediff.com's Archana Masih they would not have it any other way.
Photographs: Rajesh Karkera/Rediff.com
Also See: Salute the Soldier at the LoC
Up a desolate climb, the road lined with fir trees winds up to a fortified hill from where the Indian Air Force guards India's skies near Pakistan.
"If any aircraft comes near the Line of Control, we have to report it immediately," says Flight Lieutenant Pankaj Singh Malik, 24, who has spent the last nine months of his first posting here, at one of the IAF's most strategic radar locations in Jammu and Kashmir.
Armed men posted on tall observation towers guard this IAF base round the clock, protecting the camouflaged radar that monitors the sky on either side of the Line of Control.
The radar we are at is not far from the LoC -- the cease-fire line that seperates India and Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir -- and has a range that can see within Pakistani territory bordering India.
Less than 50 kilometres away is an area which was a hotbed of terrorism until two years ago. Militancy is under control, but a large troop presence indicates that in J&K soldiers can't afford to let their guard down.
"We report the coordinates of any unidentified aircraft or any aircraft which has strayed from the established flight path. It is then identified and communicated with," says Squadron Leader P Raghunath, 34.
In the event of an armed aircraft entering Indian air space, fighter jets are scrambled and airborne in minutes.
The last time Indian MiGs shot down Pakistani military aircraft was in 1999 -- at the height of Indo-Pak tensions a month after the Kargil conflict -- when a Pakistani naval reconnaissance aircraft with 16 men on board invaded Indian air space in Gujarat.
International convention certifies that if an aircraft does not follow instructions to force-land, it is deemed hostile and can be shot down. Further, a treaty between India and Pakistan states that military combat aircraft have to keep a minimum distance of 10 kilometres from the border.
During the Kargil conflict in 1999, Pakistan shot down an Indian MiG-21 and a Mi-17 helicopter. MiG pilot Squadron Leader Ajay Ahuja was awarded a Vir Chakra posthumously for his rescue attempts to locate the pilot who had ejected in an area dominated by Pakistani infiltrators.
The Mi-17 helicopter on a mission in the icy heights of Tololing was struck by a Stinger missile. Its crew -- Squadron Leader Rajiv Pundir, Flight Lieutenant S Mulihan, Sergeant P V N R Prasad and Sergeant R K Sahu -- had conducted nine daring strike-missions over two days. They were awarded medals for gallantry posthumously and a memorial remembers their heroism at the Sarsawa air force station in Uttar Pradesh.
Sergeant Sahu, the youngest among these heroes, was 28, the only son of his parents.
