From Balakot to Rafale, CDS, eventful 2019 for defence

From carrying out air strike at terror camps in Pakistan to creation of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) post and also from witnessing ‘fidayeen’ attack in Kashmir and to shooting down of a Mi-17 V5 helicopter in a friendly fire, 2019 saw a year of highs and lows for Indian defence sector.

In a landmark decision this year, the government created the post of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) in the rank of a four-star General. The CDS will also head the Department of Military Affairs

(DMA), to be created within the Ministry of Defence and function as its Secretary.

This follows the announcement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 15, 2019, in his address to the nation where he said “India should not have a fragmented approach. Our entire military power will have to work in unison and move forward.”

Earlier on February 25, Modi dedicated to the nation the National War Memorial near India Gate. The memorial has been erected in the memory of soldiers who sacrificed their lives in the service of the nation.

The very next day on February 26, India struck the biggest training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) in Balakot, Pakistan. In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated.

This was in response to February 14, 2019 suicide terror attack, conducted by Pak-based Jaish-e-Mohammad in which over 40 CRPF personnel were killed.

But amid this, the capture of Indian Air Force pilot Abhinandan Varthaman following the Balakot strike on February 26 was a moment of worry for Indian armed forces. He was later released.

Thereafter on February 27, the shooting down of a Mi-17 V5 helicopter with six Air Force personnel in Srinagar in friendly fire finally led to court martial proceedings against two Indian Air Force officers and was a very low moment for the forces. Chief of Air Staff

Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria accepted that the lapses were a “big mistake”.

Then there was a red-letter day in the history of IAF when Defence Minister Rajnath Singh participated in the Rafale fighter aircraft handing over ceremony at Merignac in France in October.

Singh also flew the Light Combat Aircraft ‘Tejas’ at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd Airport in Bengaluru, on September 2019. He had also handed over Medium Range Surface-toAir-Missiles to IAF at the Bharat Dynamics Limited premises in Hyderabad on August 3.