Air defence likened to fast bowling Aussie duo Thompson, Lillee

Praising the efficacy of the Indian air defence system in the conflict with Pakistan, the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO), Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai, today compared the “strike rate” of bringing down enemy threats with the wicket-taking abilities of the 1970s’ fast bowling Australian duo Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee.

The integrated air defence system of the armed forces shot down all threats — drones, armed drones and missiles fired by Pakistan, said General Ghai while describing the success in Operation Sindoor.

The DGMO cited the often-quoted media sobriquet for the fast bowling Aussie duo, “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, if Thommo does not get you, Lillee must”. The comparison was to benchmark the efficacy of the air defence system’s robustness in hitting the incoming threats.

The Indian forces managed to minimise the damage despite unrelenting efforts by the Pakistani forces, said General Ghai.

The integrated air defence system includes primary assets of the IAF and those of the frontline systems of the Army and the BSF. The Navy has a capacity of securing 700 km around an aircraft carrier.

The system comprises a large variety of sensors and weapon systems, including point defence weapons like guns, shoulder-fired guns and short-range surface-to-air missiles, and long-range missiles as well as medium-range surface-to-air missile Akash-NG and the S-400.

The Director General of Air Operations, Air Marshal AK Bharti, said the operationalisation of this potent air defence grid had been made possible over the last decade due to the unwavering budgetary and policy support provided by the government in acquiring state-of-the art equipment and weapon systems.

General Ghai specially mentioned the role of the BSF, saying that “counter UAVs of the BSF were also part of our system”.

At sea, the Navy’s standoff presence of the aircraft carrier with a large number of MiG-29K fighters and airborne early warning helicopters prevented any suspicious or hostile aircraft to close the carrier battle group within several hundred kilometres, said the Director General of Naval Operations, Vice Admiral AN Pramod.