Click to play videoNew Delhi: The Indian Air Force has been asked to raise its readiness to war-time alerts. The current readiness level is 'Passive Air Defence' which is just one step short of the posture for launching offensive strikes across the boundary.
The Air Force has also curtailed leave for its personnel. This follows an intelligence alarm about the high-possibility of a 9/11-type terror attack from the air but also conveys signals in the context of current tensions with Pakistan.
However, no troops have been committed on the ground.
Escalation, both with the Air Force and Navy, can be done out of public gaze, and de-escalation, whenever required can be done without loss of face.
The Indian military leadership is vouching for the effectiveness of air strikes as a punitive instrument should India be compelled to take military action.
Retired Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi says, “No other military power has the kind of flexibility that air power provides. Firstly, we can react in a very short time. We can strike deep. You can choose your target. You can stop it just 30 seconds to bomb delivery.”
The defense establishment insists that current alert levels are only a defensive response to the heightened threat of an air attack on India.
However, reports also indicate stepped up Naval patrolling by India in the Arabian Sea.
The last time the military was on such high alert was during Operation Parakram in 2002.
The key difference now is that no troops have been mobilized on the ground yet.
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