The Air Force has backed down on claims over an absolute 'win' during a recent Indo-UK exercise with an official statement arguing that there are no 'wins and losses' during such war games.
NEW DELHI: The Air Force has backed down on claims over an absolute 'win' during a recent Indo-UK exercise with an official statement arguing that there are no 'wins and losses' during such war games. A detailed statement has come from the Air Force on exercise 'Indradhanush' that was held in the UK in July, days after reports surfaced quoting IAF officials that the Indian side had a whitewash victory.
The statement comes a day after the UK officially raised the matter with a senior diplomat bringing it to the notice of his counterpart in Delhi, as was first reported by ET. A nuanced release on the exercise says 'there are no classic wins and losses as no weapons are fired as per their actual capability'.
The Royal Air Force (RAF) has been peeved by Indian reports that IAF Su 30 MKIs had a 12-0 victory over their Typhoons during the exercise. The reports partly quoted the delegation leader of the IAF for the exercise but the victory claims were attributed to unnamed officials.
Official of the RAF have commented strongly on the reports, saying that they were not based on facts and the actual result of the exercise. However, after the official protest by the UK in New Delhi, the IAF statement seeks to correct the image around the exercise, toning down the rhetoric.
"Such exercises are conducted under controlled conditions with mutually agreed weapons performance parameters, with the basic aim of learning from each other's best practices. Additional advantages that accrue are greater understanding of each other's general operational philosophy and exposure to a different operating environment," the release says.
Defence News - Air Force backs down on Indo-UK exercise 'claims'; says no wins and losses
So all the chest thumping on 12-0 victory just turned out to be the cricket score.
What lunacy, how exactly is the IAF backing down from anything? Anyone with even basic comprehension skills could see that no IAF official has made a single claim regarding their, or the RAF's, performance during this exercise. Look at the direct quotes in the NDTV article, all the Grp Cpt said was his men performed well- nothing more, nothing less. He did not qualify these remarks, he did not even remotely make a definitive tally of wins or losses
The IAF's official statement of yesterday is EXACTLY in line with what IAF personnel have said previously, what an absurd spin on it to say they are now backing down.
@Windjammer please provide me the exact quotes from the IAF where they have made any claims other than they performed well in a foreign land, I would love for you to provide me any "cricket score line" from them.
The very fact the RAF are the ones to have openly commented on this exercise and rebut the article so strongly makes me very suspicious and piques my interest immensely- more than any tall claims in the Indian media could do, this is hardly the "quiet confidence" the RAF was, at one time, said to be known for.
It seems like every international exercise the IAF goes to, tall claims are made either by pilots or the reporters who cite the pilots
So provide me these tall claims made by IAF pilots or STFU.
when things happen, like the video leaks in 08 of a colonel serving in the USAF talking about how great the MKI is in ACTUAL COMBAT
That serving colonel's claims (who, by the way, did NOT participate in Red Flag 08 in any shape or form) have long since been refuted. The very fact he is wrong on even the most basic technical facts (like what engines are on the MKI) says it all really.
Please READ this from the OP
The statement comes a day after the UK officially raised the matter with a senior diplomat bringing it to the notice of his counterpart in Delhi, as was first reported by ET. A nuanced release on the exercise says 'there are no classic wins and losses as no weapons are fired as per their actual capability'.
What this means is that RAF and Eurofighter consortium were embarrased
and they went crying to UK Government who took up the matter DIPLOMATICALLY
with their counter parts in New Delhi
Hence the new nuanced release
Well put, this is most telling in my opnion.
The IAF/Indians are bashed immensely for what they are perceived to have said in the aftermath of many exercises but NOT ONCE has India taken this matter to the diplomatic level- not after the unproffesional Red Flag youtube incident and not after the RAF officer's remarks in the aftermath of Indradhunush 07
@MilSpec @Koovie @nair @Capt.Popeye @SpArK @bloo @Stephen Cohen @ito @XiNiX @rockstarIN @Chanakya's_Chant @Hindustani78 @ranjeet @levina @ayesha.a
Isn't it funny that exercise Garuda (with the French) is conducted every year without fail and almost nothing comes out from either side beyond the obligatory PR talk -this is what professionalism looks like (on both sides). As soon as the IAF operates with AFs who are insecure in their own capabilities (RAF) or working to an agenda (USAF- the colonel in those infamous youtube videos was blatantly using that opportunity to push for more F-22s) this is the result.
And yet some idiot will still try and accredit this mess to the IAF. Hopefully they (IAF) are having a good chuckle to themselves back at base.