FAUJI INDIA - April 2019

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The decision to carry out air-strikes inside Pakistan beyond the Line of Control (LOC) is a watershed in our approach towards Pakistan that has for decades pushed terrorists into India under the assumption that its nuclear umbrella prevents India from responding effectively. This is now a thing of the past, hopefully. It is tragic that many of our politicians and citizens are questioning whether the IAF did achieve their objectives in these strikes. It seems they'd rather believe Pakistan's spin doctors who are compulsive liars. Remember, they even refused to claim their army's 'Shaheeds' in the Kargil conflict.
And while our forces responded with alacrity when a Pakistani air armada attacked across the LoC, the use of the vintage MiG-21s did also bring out the inadequacy of our military's arsenal. Despite that, their excellent training and motivation did save the day. It is ironic that the very Armed Forces that politicians swear by in their political sloganeering are left to the mercy of their grit and good luck. Thus, in this edition we've examined the air-strike in depth, with analysis and inputs from specialists in the pages inside. We hope the policymakers will take note of what's been said and suggested.
And as we go to press, in another major strategic achievement, India successfully tested an anti-satellite missile by shooting down a low-orbit satellite at an altitude of 300 km from earth. This makes India the fourth country to acquire such a specialised capability only after US, Russia and China. With this, we have announced that we are now ready to enter the next generation of warfare in outer space. This would mean a lot for our military capability.