By Vishnu Makhijani, IANS
Bareilly (Uttar Pradesh) : Taking a leaf from the two Gulf Wars and the ongoing operations in Iraq, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has been able to quickly acquire skills to evacuate battlefield casualties in enemy territory, a highly risky operation in times of combat.
“We pioneered the concept of combat search and rescue (CSAR) in the IAF and today have achieved a fair degree of expertise in this area,” Wing Commander H.S. Sandhu, who commands the 111 Helicopter Unit (HU), told a group of journalists visiting this frontline air base.
Bareilly is also home to a squadron of cutting edge technology Sukhoi Su-30MKI combat jets that have considerably enhanced the IAF’s strategic reach against China. Another squadron will be inducted during the next one year. Bareilly is also being developed as a maintenance hub for the Su-30.
“An air force that develops CSAR skills sends out a powerful message to its personnel that it is prepared to go to the edge of the envelope to rescue pilots who have been shot down,” Sandhu added.
“CSAR teams operate in a highly hostile environment but this can be countered by using aircraft in an air-to-air and air-to-ground mode,” he pointed out.
This apart, SEAD (suppression of enemy air defence) equipment can neutralise the threat, either temporarily or permanently, to permit rescue assets to enter the area and execute a recovery, Sandhu stated.
The CSAR concept first came into vogue during the first Gulf War in 1991 when TV visuals showed a pilot being dramatically rescued by an armed helicopter even as Iraqi troops advanced toward his downed aircraft.
The primary operational task of CSAR is to locate, communicate with, and recover downed aircrews and isolated personnel.
This can be broken into three sub-tasks: locating the aircrews by visual or electronic methods to pinpoint their location; communicating with the aircrews by radio or visual signalling; and providing medical assistance and recovering the aircrews.
But then, CSAR is not the only skill acquired by the 111 HU, that goes by the sobriquet “Snow Tigers” and whose motto is “A friend in time of need”.
Since it was raised on Aug 1, 1963, it has been conducting medical casualty evacuation (MEDEVAC) missions in the mountainous regions and plains of north and northeastern India, as also providing battlefield support to the Indian Army with its armed Chetak helicopters.
The unit originally flew the Mi-4 helicopter and today also flies the Cheetah.
“We’re hoping for more modern aircraft once these come into the IAF fleet,” Sandhu said.
Today, the unit’s area of responsibility ranges from the Himalayan ranges of Uttarakhand, and through parts of Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand.
Its finest hour was on May 11, 2004 when a helicopter from the unit landed at 23,230 feet – the highest so far by a rotary wing aircraft – to rescue an IAF climber who had fallen sick while on a mountaineering expedition.
“We are on permanent 15-minute standby from dawn to dusk every day,” Sandhu stated, adding: “We have been in the thick of things all these years and will continue to be so.”
According to Sandhu, “not many realise this”, but flying a helicopter on MEDEVAC missions was at times “more challenging” than piloting a combat jet.
“Every minute, every second is different. You set out to do something, you see something different, and you have to do something different (from that originally planned) within the parameters of the mission,” he explained.
“Helicopter pilots have to take critical decisions at much younger ages (than those in the fighter stream). Perhaps this is why so many of us have so much grey hair.”