'Had we procured Rafale...': Former IAF chief BS Dhanoa on India-Pak dogfight after Balakot strike

Former Air Force chief Birender Singh Dhanoa on Saturday claimed that had India procured Rafale jets during Balakot airstrikes, "things would have been different" in the aftermath when Pakistan launched a counter-attack on India's military installation. 

A day after Indian Air Force hit terror targets deep in Pakistan's Balakot, Pak Air Force had launched several F-16s to attack Indian military installations in Jammu and Kashmir. While the attack was foiled and an F-16 jet was shot down, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was captured as his MIG21 crashed into Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK). 

Dhanoa said had Abhinandan Varthaman been flying a Rafale instead of a MiG 21 during the India-Pakistan dogfight after the Balakot strike, the outcome would have been different.

"After Balakot if you had Rafale, things would have been different. If Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman had been flying a Rafale and not a MIG21, things would have definitely been different I feel," Dhanoa, who was the IAF chief at the time, said on Saturday. 

He was speaking at the Techfest event organised by IIT-Bombay. 

The Retired Air Chief Marshal also lamented about the politicisation of the procurement of defence equipment.

"Why was he (Abhinandan) not flying a Rafale? Because it took 10 years to decide which aircraft you want to buy. The entire process is delayed if defensive procurements are politicised. So it affects you," he said. "If you politicise a defence acquisition system, the whole system goes behind and the entire process delays and you start moving ahead in a slow pace because people start becoming very conscious."

"But the decision, like I keep saying, is a political decision. It (the proposal) was not accepted at that time. So it gave the terror-sponsoring state confidence that India will not retaliate to a terrorist attack," he said.

Giving the example of Bofors controversy, Dhanoa compared it to the Rafale jet deal. 

"See, for example in the Bofors. It’s a very good gun but the whole thing got mired in controversy. Rafale also the same questions were asked and it’s a good thing for us that the controversy has somewhat died and the Supreme Court has given a very good judgement on the issue. You have many agencies that do audit in the deal," he said.