Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa while interacting with the participants of Ex AVIANINDRA 2018 between Indian Air Force (IAF) and Russian Federation Aerospace Force (RFASF) spoke on various issues, including Rafael deal. He rightly said that the deal should not be politicised as it was a matter of national security and the Rafael aircraft will strengthen the Air Force significantly.
Giving an example of Bofors deal for the Indian Army, he remarked, “Ask the army what happened to them in Bofors. After how much time, they could induct the gun. So, if any equipment is politicised, it has an effect on the procurement process. I am not going to comment on the court’s decision, but I welcome SC’s judgement which has also said that this aircraft is indeed required by Air Force. The tax payers have the right to know where their money is being spent but for that we have CAG. Politicisation of every security issue adversely effects modernisation of the armed forces,” he said.
On hearing the above remarks, many politicians commenced yapping without even bothering about the Country’s Security or its image. One joker even went to the extent of calling the Air Chief a lier. He does not realise that with this despicable uttering of his, he is not only insulting his own motherland, his own Defender but also sapping the very morale of the Air Warriors and also the rest of the Defence Forces. In many a Country such jokers are summarily tried and either shot or thrown in the jail. He does not realise that this freedom to YAPP is guaranteed to him by the very Defence Forces, he is trying to insult and bring down.
The politicians of all varieties and especially those elected and sitting in the parliament get very agitated when Judiciary passes caustic remarks on their actions. At times they even confront the Judiciary, when they perceive that judicial action is trying to intervene on the Legislature turf. In a similar manner they should be responsible enough and not cross the Line on matters military. They need to realise that if military crosses the Line then not only such Politicians will vanish but also nothing much may be left for rest of the political parties to politicise about.
Rafael is a solid aircraft and the Indian Specific variant which will be joining the IAF is top in its class and will give a much needed boost the defence of the Indian Air Space.Financially too it has been an excellent deal. In fact now with the finances improving, orders need to be placed for two more squadrons. With four squadrons of Rafael and around 21 Squadrons of TEJAS variants, we will be able to wait for our own AMCA to start joining the IAF as replacement of MIG 29, Jaguars and finally the Mirage 2000s.
