From: <Taji11@aol.com>
To: <defjrnl@pathfinder9.com>
Subject: Radar jamming in the ’71 War
Date: Sunday, June 29, 2003 7:33 AM

Dear Sir,

We have learnt so much about our wars with India through your esteemed journal. Many things which were classified or may be were just too unpleasant were pushed under the rug.

There is one aspect that does not seem to have come out fully and that was the apparent air superiority of the IAF on the borders of West Pakistan. Our unit was moving in broad daylight and some vehicles were straffed or rocketed on the road near Sakasar which is not close to the border. During the next few days the Indian jets were moving with impunity in the border area near Bahawalnagar. They flew so low that we could see the pilots faces and the insignias on their helmets. Ofcourse no small arms fire was opened per orders so as not give our position away. We really wanted our air force to show up as we had heard about the spectacular stories of 65.

After the war was over I came across a professional aviation magazine published in Europe.The magazine had a lengthy article on the Indian aerospace industry and among other things it gave details of the fact that Russia had provided a number of AWAC s to India and these had jammed the Pakistani Air Force radars. Thus our air force was ineffective in deploying their fighter planes. If I remember it said that these AWACs were flying along the border on the Indian side and were manned by Russian crew. Please keep in mind that Pakistan had no AWACs. I wonder what are the views of your readers on this. I understand that a good part of our air force was held in reserve for the possible launch of a major army offensive, however, it still does not explain about the disparity of our air performance as compared to the 65 war.

Most truly,

Major (Retd) Mumtaz A Malik
Virginia, USA