Indian Army To Move Air Defence Units Near Pakistan Border After Post-Balakot Dogfight Between IAF-PAF

The Indian Army, after conducting an in-depth internal review of the recent tension with Pakistan is considering to deploy a considerable number of air defence units closer to the border to prevent threats emerging from Pakistan, the Hindu reports.

“Some of the fighting formations including air defence and other defensive formations are now planned to be moved closer to the borders,” ANI cites top Army sources.

“With these air defence units deployed closer to the border, we would be able to tackle any possible aerial strike from enemy side and thwart it close to the border itself,” the sources added.

The forces reviewed the locations of the air defence units which are deployed in Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Punjab, sources said. They felt that a few of them could be shifted to forward locations to prevent air strikes close to the border itself.

A Pakistani air attack on 27 February came in response to the JeM terrorist camps hit in Balakot avenging the Pulwama attack, a day earlier. The attack was thwarted by the IAF’s air defence fighters including the MiG-21s and Su-30MKI and shot down one Pakistani F-16.

Despite the aggressive response preventing Pakistani jets from coming only a couple on kilometres inside Indian territory, the army felt the presence of more air defence units would have damaged more to the Pakistanis.