‘GPS fixed in fighter aircraft for 1st time in Kargil war’

BENGALURU: The lack of coordination among security agencies and timely response to Pakistan army’s intrusion in Kargil are still matters of serious discourse 25 years after the ‘Operation Vijay’. “If everyone had been on the ball, the Kargil war would not have happened,” said Air Vice Marshal Narayan Menon (Retired).

He was then Air Officer Commanding, Jammu & Kashmir and the first person from the Indian Air Force to be involved in ‘Operation Safed Sagar,’ or ‘Operation Vijay’ against Pakistan. Menon had participated as a pilot in the 1965 war and as a flight lieutenant in the 1971 war. He was conferred with the Uttam Yudh Seva Medal after the Kargil war.

Recalling the Kargil war fought between May and July 1999 in which India lost 527 soldiers and Pakistan more than 4000, the IAF veteran acknowledged that a lack of communication between the Army and Air Force initially hampered operational planning.