Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai, Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) of the Indian Army, drew a cricket eulogy during a press conference on Operation Sindoor as Virat Kohli announced his retirement.
General Ghai, while explaining the air defence system’s power and precision, likened it to deadly duo of Australian fast bowlers, Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee.
” I remember an incident when I was in school in the 70s. There was a match between England and Australia. At that time, two ace bowlers of Australia – Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee destroyed the English batting line-up. At that time, Australia coined a proverb – ‘ashes to ashes, dust to dust, if Thommo don’t get ya, Lillee must.”
He further said, “If you see the layers, you’ll understand what I am trying to say. Even if you crossed all the layers, one of the layers of this grid system will hit you,” he said to explain how powerful and precise the air defence system is.
The strength of India’s air defence ecosystem was seen during Operation Sindoor and the strikes that followed as Pakistan escalated the situation. The two countries engaged in intense cross-border drone and missile strikes coming to a war-like situation before announcing a ceasefire understanding.
Indian Air Force’s (IAF) S-400 Sudarshan Chakra, air defence missile systems, played a crucial role in thwarting a Pakistani attempt to escalate hostilities by targeting Indian sites.
India, during Operation Sindoor, hit nine terror camps, eliminating over 100 terrorists across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK). Rattled by India’s response to Pahalgam terror attack, which claimed 26 lives, it fired drones and missiles toward India’s border cities, but all of them were successfully destroyed by India’s powerful air defence system.
