*NEW YORK: India has lost its recent air battle with Pakistan, which hasraised several questions on the capabilities of its armed forces, said NewYork Times in its reportlink.*
An Indian Air Force pilot found himself in a dogfight last week with awarplane from the Pakistani Air Force, and ended up a prisoner behind enemylines for a brief time.
After the announcement of PM imran Khan, the pilot Abhinandan Varthamanmade it home.
The report said, the aerial clash, the first by the South Asian rivals innearly five decades, was a rare test for the Indian military, its loss oftwo plane, last week to a country whose military is about half the size andreceives a quarter of the funding was still telling.
If intense warfare broke out tomorrow, India could supply its troops withonly 10 days of ammunition, according to government estimates, and 68percent of the army’s equipment is so old, it is officially considered“vintage”, the report read.
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Gaurav Gogoi, a lawmaker and member of the Parliamentary Standing Committeeon Defense said as was quoted by the NYT, “Our troops lack modernequipment, but they have to conduct 21st-century military operations.”
The soaring tensions reached a new height between the two neighbouringcountries as two fighter jets of Indian Air Force were shot down byPakistan Air Force in bright day light on Wednesday (February 27).
Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Major General AsifGhafoor said the military action from Pakistan was a demonstration of itsdefense capability as a reaction towards violation of Line of Control byIndian fighter jets on Feb 26.
