Last year, it had been reported that Pakistan had roped in a China made low-to-medium altitude air defence system (LOMADS) LY 80. This was being hyped by Pakistan as a shot in the arm for its air defences. The said defence system aims to intercept and destroy aerial targets flying at low and medium altitudes. This was being widely seen as an attempt by Pakistan to match India’s air defence capabilities. However, the vulnerability of the Pakistani air defence system and its fragility has been exposed after India carried out lethal airstrikes deep inside Pakistani territory.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out the lethal bombing in Balakot which is located 50 kilometres inside the Line of Control (LoC) in the Pakistani territory. This basically means that the IAF was not only able to cross the LoC and effectively get through Pakistan’s air defence system but also go deep into Pakistan territory and unleash hell on their terror outfits. Pakistan was taken by surprise and was not able to intercept the Indian fighter jets. It seems that the Pakistani air defence system is good for nothing.
This is not for the first time that Pakistan’s weak air defences have been exposed as vulnerable and incompetent. In 2011, the US had carried out a raid killing Al Qaeda chief, Osama bin Laden, who had been harboured by Pakistan inside its territory in Abbottabad. This had exposed Pakistan’s weak defences. And the Pakistani military and civil establishment had found it hard to explain its failures. The Pakistani public had appeared unconvinced in their forces. A popular text message doing the rounds at that time in Islamabad read, “Pakistan is now so insecure that even Osama bin Laden is not safe.” Speaking to journalists, the Pakistani Foreign Secretary at that time had said, “Our radars were evaded. As soon as the relevant authorities came to know of this particular matter, this was at a time when one of their helicopters crashed or malfunctioned or was destroyed.”
Osama bin Laden had been killed in close proximity to the Pakistan Military Academy. This revealed the fact that terrorists within Pakistan were not totally safe and even those closely protected by the Pakistani military could be attacked and neutralised with impressive precision.
At that time, Pakistan used to argue that the elite US forces had entered Pakistan through the western border and therefore, Pakistan could not intercept them. The argument was that under the Pakistani policy, there was not any “response capability” on the western border, although there was one on eastern borders with India. It was being argued that Pakistani low-altitude radar deployments on the western border were on “peacetime deployment” and therefore unable to intercept the US choppers, two Chinooks and two stealth black hawks.
However, this time around the IAF entered the neighbouring country through the eastern border. What was Pakistan able to do this time around? The rogue nation was taken by surprise and the IAF bombed their terror camps heavily. Pakistani lies and weak air defences have been exposed like never before. Mirage 2000 fighter bombers are not stealth jets and therefore, Pakistan air defences were not able to perform at a basic level also. Compared to the Osama raid when the two of the US choppers were stealth black hawks, the airstrikes carried out by India must have been easier to intercept. Pakistani terrorists are not safe and India can carry out regular strikes at their terror camps.
