War victory in 1971 ‘landmark event’ in global history, says IAF chief Bhadauria
Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria on Wednesday termed India’s victory in the 1971 war with Pakistan as a “landmark event” in global history.
Speaking at a seminar at Centre for Airpower Studies titled ‘50 years of Indo-Pak war: Victory in the air’, the IAF chief said, “The victory in 1971 war was a landmark event in global history. On the signing of the instrument of surrender on December 16, 1971, in Dhaka, East Pakistan ceased to exist and Bangladesh was born.”
“The largest military surrender after the second World War shattered the prestige of Pakistan military and left 93,000 Pakistani prisoners in captivity,” he said.
Bhadauria further said that Pakistan lost a third of its Army, half its Navy and a quarter of its Air Force thereby bringing an end to atrocities the Pakistan Army had unleashed through its ‘Operation Searchlight’ on the predominantly Bengali population of East Pakistan.
IAF chief flies sortie in IOC standard LCA Tejas
Air Chief Marshal Bhadauria flew in an initial operational clearance (IOC) standard Light Combat Aircraft Tejas during his visit to Bengaluru, the Defence Ministry said on Wednesday. The CAS visited IAF units and flight test establishments and facilities of DRDO and HAL at Bengaluru on August 23 and 24, an official release said. “During his visit to Bengaluru, CAS flew in an IOC LCA Tejas,” it said.
The IAF also tweeted the pictures and said Bhadauria flew a sortie in a Tejas MK1 aircraft. During his visit to Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE), he was given an overview of ongoing projects and briefed on progress of operational trials.