Five out of 36 Rafale planes arrived in India last week (File)
New Delhi:
The Rafale aircraft will give India a strategic advantage in air combat with China in the mountainous region of Tibet, as the fleet can use the terrain to its advantage, destroy enemy air defense and neutralize surface-to-air missiles. former Air Chief Marshal (ret’d) BS Dhanoa said on Sunday.
Mr Dhanoa, known as the architect of the Balakot strikes, said the Rafale jets along with the S-400 missile systems would give the Indian Air Force a major combat advantage across the region and that India’s adversaries would think twice before starting a war.
In the case of Pakistan, he said the purpose of the S-400 and the Rafale is to strike Pakistani planes inside Pakistani airspace and not when they enter Indian territory, adding that the country neighbor would not have responded on February 27 of last year to the Balakot. air strikes if India then had French-made jets.
In an interview with PTI, Dhanoa said the Rafale, with its fantastic electronic warfare suite and maneuverability, will be able to use the mountainous terrain of Tibet to its advantage and blind the enemy before attack planes from India will not enter hostile airspace to carry out their missions.
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The former chief of the air staff also said that the Rafales supplied to the IAF are much more advanced than those used by the French air force because India had requested something “more” because of the requirement to operate under unique conditions like Leh’s operations.
Five out of 36 Rafale jets arrived in India last week as India sits in the middle of a bitter border with China in the high-altitude region of eastern Ladakh.
“Rafale has a fantastic Electronic Warfare (EW) (SPECTRA) suite, fantastic weapons and are therefore able to protect themselves electronically in addition to being able to use the terrain to their advantage,” Dhanoa said.
“So they (Rafale) can play an important role in doing DEAD (Destruction of Enemy Air Defense) on the surface-to-air missiles that the Chinese have put on Tibet.
“Once you take out these surface-to-air missiles, other planes like Su30, Jaguars, and even Mig 21s can come out and drop bombs on Chinese forces. Attack planes carrying bombs can send tons of bombs. and tons of bombs on enemy troops, carrying out their mission freely. But if you don’t DEAD, you will suffer a lot of casualties, ”he said.
The major air forces in the world carry out Enemy Air Defense (SEAD) or DEAD suppression by using their aircraft or high-end weapons before launching any major operation in hostile territories.
“Against China, there are great Himalayan mountains between us that create serious line of sight problems. You can place a missile with a range of 300 to 400 km on the ground in Tibet or India. But that won’t work. that in line of sight, ”he said.
He said the Rafales, with a ground following capability, will give India a major boost in its capabilities.
“In air combat, the first thing that is important is information domination, you get information and you deny information to the enemy. The key role the Rafales will play in Tibet is information dominance and in the case of Pakistan this is a major deterrent. Of course there will be other roles as well, ”he said.
