ISLAMABAD: The February 6 admission by senior officials of the defence ministry that a Saab-2000 aircraft fitted with an Airborne Early Warning & Control System (AWACS) was totally destroyed in the August 15, 2012 terror attack on the Kamra airbase, implies that the concerned authorities had been keeping the tax payers in the dark for the past six months by claiming that it was only the nose cone of the precious aircraft which had been partially damaged and that it would be repaired by the manufacturers in Sweden.
The fact that the Kamra airbase raiders had completely destroyed one of the four Saab-2000 AWACS planes was made public for the first time by Additional Secretary Defence Rear Admiral Farrokh Ahmad during a meeting of the National Assemblys Standing Committee on Defence on February 6, six months after the Minhas airbase at Kamra was attacked by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.
The meeting was chaired by President Zardaris sister, Azra Fazal Pechuho, as the chairperson of the 18-member Committee. Responding to a question by Ayaz Ameer, one of the Standing Committee members, Rear Admiral Farrokh Ahmad conceded that a Saab-2000 AWACS which was parked at the Minhas airbase was completely destroyed by miscreants when the Kamra came under attack.
When asked by Ayaz Ameer to further enlighten the Committee on the issue, Secretary Defence Lt Gen (R) Asif Yaseen Malik admitted that one fourth early warning ability of the PAF was knocked out by the raiders with the ruining of one of the four Swedish-made Saab-2000 planes.
But the secretary defence did not respond to Ayazs query about the actual loss suffered by the national kitty due to the ruining of Saab-2000 AWACS. As The News asked PAF spokesman Group Captain Tariq Mahmood about the likely price of the Saab-2000, he sought a couple of days to collect the required information. Asked about the price of the Saab-2000 AWACS, a senior PAF official said while requesting anonymity that the perished plane was worth 130-140 million US dollars. But a highly placed defence ministry official differed with the figure, saying that the plane destroyed at Kamra was worth 250 million US dollars.
However, a senior defence ministry official said on the condition of anonymity that the Saab-2000 AWACS destroyed at Kamra was worth $250 million. Ayaz Ameer, a former army captain, estimated the price of Saab-2000 somewhere between 250 and 300 million US dollars.
It was on the night of August 15, 2012 that nine fidayeen attackers dressed in military uniforms and armed with rocket propelled grenades and suicide vests, stormed the Minhas airbase. Minhas remained under attack for two hours and finally culminated in the death of two PAF personnel and all the nine attackers who were successful in their mission of destroying one of the Saab-2000 AWACS planes.
TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan subsequently claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was carried out to avenge the killings of Baitullah Mehsud and Osama bin Laden. The fidayeen, Ehsan had declared, succeeded in achieving their targets and had delivered a lethal blow to the PAF. But neither Ehsan explained the lethal blow inflicted by TTP nor did the PAF deem it fit to concede the destruction of the Saab 2000 aircraft.
Following the attack, PAF spokesman Tariq Mahmood conceded that at least one of the rockets fired by the attackers hit a hangar holding PAF aircrafts. The rocket pierced the hangar wall while shrapnel from the blast damaged one of the aircraft parked inside. But I cannot reveal the name of the craft
please wait for the inquiry report, said the spokesman. But the finding of the inquiry, which was ordered by Air Chief Marshal Tahir Rafique Butt and conducted by Air Marshal Athar Hussain Bukhari, has yet to be made public.
Hours after attack, Defence Minister Naveed Qamar said on August 15, 2012, that the death toll of the militants and the minimal damage caused to the base was clear proof of the preparedness of
Few months back one jf 17 crashed in arabian sea. that report also suppressed by paf.
