The Indian Air Force has ordered the dismissal of a group captain for shooting down his own Mi-17 V5 helicopter in occupied Kashmir with a surface-to-air missile.
A court of inquiry was established soon after the incident, in which a Soviet-designed military chopper was hit by an Indian missile while returning to Srinagar on the day of armed clashes between nuclear-armed Pakistan and India.
According to Indian media, a general court-martial has ordered Suman Roy Chowdhury’s removal from office after at least seven people, including six Indian army personnel, were killed in the deadly blunder.
The investigation discovered that the helicopter’s ‘Identification of Friend or Foe’ (IFF) system was not working, resulting in miscommunication. The mechanism that aids air defence radars in determining whether an aircraft or helicopter is friendly or hostile has been turned off.
The incident followed a dogfight between Pakistani and Indian forces. According to a military spokesman, Pakistan Air Force jets engaged two Indian warplanes in a dogfight and shot them down along the Line of Control (LoC) in 2019.
Pakistan captured one Indian pilot after an aerial engagement in Jammu and Kashmir’s Nowshera sector.
Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, the downed pilot, was seen in a video of what appears to be an interview at a Pakistani air base, where he praised the professionalism of the Pakistan Army but denied sharing any sensitive information.
His MiG 21 Bison, shot down by Wing Commander Nauman Ali Khan, crashed on the Pakistani side of the Line of Control, while the second IAF fighter jet, a Sukhoi Su-30 shot down by Sqn Leader Hassan Siddiqui, landed on the Indian side.
