New mission on the cards for IAF's choppers

After equipping its helicopter squadrons in the east with night vision devices, the Indian Air Force is shifting its focus to units in the western region where such aircraft could be used for casualty evacuation and also come to the aid of troops in militancy-hit areas like Jammu and Kashmir.

The helicopters of the Indian Air Force, which have won laurels over casualty evacuation missions during the day in the militancy-hit state, could now be used during the night as well for transporting injured soldiers, a move that is expected to give a fillip to the morale of troops engaged in countering insurgents, official sources said.

The IAF has been proposing to the government that its assets could be used in low-intensity warfare, and making the helicopters available for night-time missions is being seen as an opportunity to work out modalities for involving air warriors in counter-insurgency operations, they said.

Helicopter gunships and fighter jets of the IAF were instrumental in breaking the backbone of the Pakistani intrusion in the Kargil sector in 1999, forcing the intruders to withdraw from strategic heights they had occupied.

The IAF was silent on the issue officially but sources in the armed forces said a proposal had been sent to the government for the use of air power in counter-insurgency operations.

Though the Union home ministry has said the IAF could be used to flush out militants in Kashmir and the northeast, the problem is that information about the location of insurgent hideouts had to be specific and pin-pointed to avoid 'collateral damage' to civilians, the sources said.

Moreover, there is a need for adequate security on the ground for helicopters, as they could otherwise prove to be 'sitting ducks' for militants or anti-national elements.

The IAF has been providing logistical support to security forces fighting insurgency from time to time and has been maintaining that it is well prepared to do more to provide security cover to them.