From Alfred to Abhinandan: Professional Pilots of an Unprofessional Airforce

The title contains the names of two Indian Air Force pilots who fought bravely for their country and stood firmly by their principles, cutting their promising careers short in the that bargain. While the name of Abhinandan is known to all and needs to introduction, Flight Lieutenant Alfred Tyrone Cooke (Cookie) who was awarded Vir Chakra in 1965 war should be discussed here before proceeding further. Arguably the greatest IAF fighter pilot, he was commissioned in 1961 and resigned in 1968 to leave for Australia. He passed away recently, just after sharing his bitter experiences about his career and disappointments in top brass’s incompetence in a podcast. A legendary Hunter pilot, he engaged the PAF’s 4-ship F-86 Sabre 7th September strike on Kalaikunda. It was the second one on that day by Dacca based 14 Sqn, after successfully destroying multiple aircraft there earlier that morning. After an intense low-level dogfight, he shot down Flg Off Afzal khan and damaged Flt Lt Tariq Habib Khan’s aircraft.

His complete story goes further than all this with details like the PAI (Pilot Attack Instructor) of sqn making excuses to not fly during war, and the sqn commander, who later became IAF chief, ignoring such actions, but this article isn’t about ‘Cookie’, may his soul rest in peace. This is about the unprofessionalism of top brass of IAF who cannot stand up to the Saffronization of armed forces by politicians and criminal negligence of bureaucrats or ‘Babu’. With the potential to overrun a much smaller PAF, the commanders of IAF have always let down the tactical level officers by failing to provide them with clear direction and training. Whether one looks at the examples of Indo-Pak wars in 1965 and 71, or the recent limited conflicts started by the Hindutva driven BJP government’s racist RSS ideology, the stories of Alfred and Abhinandan remain the same. The air chief in 2019, ACM Dhanoa, couldn’t tell PM Modi that clouds cannot hide aircraft from radar, but now he laments in a podcast that “the cost of delay in procurement for the military is paid through the blood of soldiers and pilots”.

A similar storyline was followed by succeeding chiefs like ACM Dhanoa, who failed in warranting HAL’s delivery timeline for Tejas (an aircraft that is outdated but is nonetheless a lifeline for depleting IAF squadrons) but now suggests that IAF should cancel the second order of 97 Tejas Mk1A. The circle is completed by the current chief who is going to retire on 31 October after his superannuation. His long farewell press conference was vague at best and felt like a pandering session instead of celebration of 94th IAF day on 8th October. Though one can ask how IAF was created in 1932 when state of India came into being in 1947, but that will open another Pandora’s box of MahaBharat with futile debate. So, one needs to focus on IAF tall claims for now and show sympathy to those who must bear the brunt of all this talk that is just hot air. The Indian Defence Secretary is fabricating lies about AMCA’s first flight in 2028 to downplay the threat of 5th gen fighters faced by IAF, but I can bet my pension that it is just a ruse. The current decisionmakers will be enjoying their post-retirement lives, leaving the next group of commanders to handle this delusional Bollywood grandeur that focuses on optics instead of actual outcomes.