JAMMU: An Advanced Light Helicopter Dhruv with three people on board crashed in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir today. According to reports, at least two crew members have been injured.
Indian media reported suggested that this is the third crash involving an ALH Dhruv in the last two months.
A search and rescue operation has been launched and further details are awaited.
It is pertinent to note that Indian Air Force is all set to launch large-scale Offensive Combat Air (OCA) exercises over Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, parts of the disturbed states of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh from May 6, 2023 to test its capabilities afresh after meeting humiliating defeat at the hands of Pakistan Air Force on February 27, 2019.
The two-week long exercise is also meant to assess newly-formed and existing IAF tactics to pro-vide effective and contemporary OCA (Offensive Counter Air) airpower in the Kashmir theatre. On February 27, 2019 PAF drowned two Indian fighter planes and arrested one of Indian pilots Abhinandan.
Additionally newly-acquired IAF long range standoff strike capabilities like Hammer missiles, SCALP cruise missiles etcetera will be used to ensure proper usage and pilot training in mountainous/high-altitude environments after the major national-level embarrassment of the IAF’s Operation Bandar where 5 of the 6 released smart munitions, Israeli SPICE kits, overshot and missed intended strike location due to wrongly-entered target elevation coordinates, and one weapon failed to release from aircraft.
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