ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s air chief said on Friday the country’s air force had undertaken “comprehensive modernization and indigenization” in recent years, as he addressed a ceremony at Air Headquarters to mark seven years since an aerial confrontation with India.
Operation Swift Retort was launched on Feb. 27, 2019, a day after India attempted airstrikes inside Pakistan following a suicide bombing in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary troops.
Pakistan responded with aerial strikes across the Line of Control and shot down an Indian fighter jet in a subsequent dogfight, capturing one pilot who was later returned in what Islamabad called a gesture of de-escalation.
“PAF has pursued comprehensive modernization and indigenization to transition into a Next Generation Air Force,” Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Baber Sidhu said, according to a statement circulated by the military’s media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations.
He added that the force had recalibrated its operational doctrine and rapidly inducted advanced combat and support capabilities, including indigenously developed unmanned systems, electronic warfare, space and cyber assets, establishing what he described as a “home-grown multi-domain kill chain.”
