Max gun range in 1971 was only a km: IAF veteran

As the high-precision Operation Sindoor is underway, Air Vice-Marshal Sarvjit Hothi (retd) (75) says that he is reminded of the minimal technological support with which he had flown Gnat fighter aircraft into the Pakistan territory in the 1971 war.

“I was just a 22-year-old pilot that time. It had been just two years since I had been inducted into the Indian Air Force. I was posted where there was all action going on that time – Amritsar. Our fight was completely different. The pilot had to sight the target and then bombard it. The maximum gun range at our times was just about a km. After hitting the target with often a 1,000-pound bomb, we had to immediately revert. Sometimes, we would get engaged in a dogfight. It was an eyeball to eyeball fight with the pilot of the enemy’s aircraft. Unlike that time, now the targets are set hundreds of kilometres away without even the need to cross the border. The current operation is the use of Beyond Visual Range (BVR) missiles and Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS) and the pilots do not even get to see the target," recalled AVM Hothi, who has been a recipient of the Vayu Sena Medal and Vashisht Seva Medal.

The officer, who retired in 2007 after putting in 38 years of service, recalled, “I was the Commanding Officer of now Air Chief Marshal AP Singh when he had just got commissioned as the Flying Officer." AVM Hothi has remained posted as the Commanding Officer of 31 Squadron at Halwara Air Force Station from 1988-90. He also served as the Station Commander at the Jaisalmer airbase. He returned to Halwara again as the Air Officer Commanding in 1998. He also remained posted in Maritime Air Operations, Mumbai, from 2004-06.

On how the damage assessment was done five decades ago, AVM Hothi recalled, “While we have satellite system to do that and also drone system to capture the images (besides immediate media reports), a special single pilot aircraft was sent for the photorun. The now and then pictures were compared to assess the damage done."

AVM Hothi shared a war time incident wherein a Pakistani pilot had been apprehended by the IAF as the Prisoner of War. “The Squadron Leader’s jet was fired at. It caught fire and we saw him ejecting safely in front of us. We recovered several things from him, including the maps of the target areas that he was carrying. Our team immediately caught hold of him and put the prized catch in a quarter guard. There was so much excitement to see him that everyone took turns to go and have a look at him. He pleaded that he should not be treated like an animal in the zoo. But we did take good care of him and handed him over to our Delhi teams. After the war, there was an exchange of PoWs and he had returned", he recalled the incident.

On Operation Sindoor, he said, “It is amply clear that India does not want to escalate it. The operation was a political decision. The objective was to avenge the innocent killings in Pahalgam. We are in a different era when we cannot let go the attack in Parliament or the 9/11 Mumbai terror attack. Such atrocities against a common man cannot be tolerated now. It has been more of a tit for tat of what has been happening till now. There is no plan for any physical occupation of any land."

On the last night drone bombardment in Jammu, Pathankot, Jalandhar and other areas, he said, “There was nothing much. There has been no damage done by the drones that flew in. The TV reporters created so much noise which only scared people. I think there is not much to worry as of now".

Jalandhar