[NATION.PK] With news of two drones hitting a heavily guarded air base in Jammu, India media went into overdrive to blame Pakistain, and it was not unexpected. After all, the pride of Indian Military, the Indian Air Force(IAF), which gobbles billions of dollars every year is a big burden on the exchequer. IAF consumes almost 23 percent of the 70 billion dollars allocated for defence. In 2020 and 2021, IAF surpassed the Army and Navy in biting the allocation for so-called modernisation budget.
Perhaps because - unlike the other IAF (Israeli) - the enemy the Indians face doesn't pose an existential threat, other than the nukes?
As reported by the Stimson Centre in February this year, analysts recorded an overall defence modernisation budget of USD $12.48 billion in 2020, with the IAF provided the highest budget of USD $5.36 billion. India also signed significant strategic defence and security cooperation agreements with major and emerging powers. Moreover, the Indian military heavily overspent and made emergency purchases due to the ongoing confrontation with China. Specifically, the IAF overspent by USD $1.61 billion, the Navy by $1.49 billion, and the Army by $112.62 million.
So far no one has claimed the credit for these drone attacks on IAF; irrespective of the fact that these may be part of the false flag operations, IAF has been badly smacked by Indian media. This may be justified due to the poor track record of IAF during its skirmish with Pakistain Air Force in February 2019 and its inability to warn the Indian politicianship about the Chinese build up in Ladakh last year. |