Budgam chopper crash

A day after the February 26 Balakot airstrike, an Mi-17 helicopter of the IAF crashed at Budgam in Kashmir. All six IAF personnel on board and a civilian on the ground were killed, including a young Squadron Leader from Chandigarh, Siddharth Vashisht. The tragic incident was reduced to a footnote amid the euphoria over the retaliatory aerial action and the release of Wg Cdr Abhinandan Varthaman from Pakistan’s custody. With the ongoing inquiry indicating that lapses led to the crash, the IAF has set the ball rolling by removing the Air Officer Commanding of the Srinagar air base.

The helicopter was downed by a surface-to-air missile of the IAF itself, even as the air defence system was on the highest alert after the airstrike. The incident happened around the time Indian and Pakistani jets were engaged in a dogfight over Nowshera in J&K. It is shocking that the IFF (Identification, Friend or Foe) system, which automatically transmits a unique identification signal, was switched off on the Mi-17. The probe should pinpoint who all were responsible for not following the mandatory procedures despite strict instructions from the Air Force Headquarters. It’s also imperative to ascertain whether it was just an accident that happened in the fog of war or someone misguided the pilot. Importantly, the Barnala-based node of the IAF’s Integrated Air Command and Control System (IACCS), which was tracking the aerial skirmish and collating information from radars, unmanned aerial vehicles and surveillance planes, had not marked this helicopter as an ‘intruder’.

The Budgam episode has remained shrouded in mystery for almost three months. It has been an agonising wait for the victims’ families, who want to know — as does the entire nation — what exactly went wrong that fateful day. As soon as the investigation is completed and accountability fixed at various levels, the truth — no matter how unpalatable — should be made public. Taking the disturbing matter to its logical conclusion is a litmus test for the IAF, whose credibility is at stake.