Kayani ‘adventure’ plays on Delhi mind

(The Telegraph): The militant attack on Pakistan’s most important naval air station has destroyed powerful military assets intended for use against India. The primary task of the two US-origin P-3C Orion aircraft that were destroyed — and an unspecified number damaged — was to detect Indian naval warships and submarines and destroy them in the event of hostilities. The aircraft were among the Pakistan Navy’s most modern acquisitions. In the security establishment in New Delhi, there is suspicion that the attack in Karachi and, earlier, the killing of Osama bin Laden next to the Pakistan Military Academy in Abbottabad has a possible dangerous spin-off for India. The fear is that the military under General Ashfaq Kayani may be tempted to get adventurous because morale in Pakistan’s armed forces has plummeted after the two raids. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan has claimed responsibility for Sunday night’s attack in Karachi but the interior minister has said that Islamabad was still trying to establish the motive and identities of the raiders. Even in New Delhi, senior naval officials concede that such an attack would undermine the military of any country. The attack on the naval air station PNS Mehran is on a par with the LTTE raid on Colombo airport in Sri Lanka before the outfit was all but destroyed. PNS Mehran is as important to the Pakistan Navy as INS Hansa (in Goa) is to the Indian. Besides the naval air station comprising six squadrons of patrolling and surveillance aircraft, it also has a training school for naval aviators. The acquisition of the Lockheed Martin-made P-3C Orion aircraft by Pakistan through a deal signed in 2004 made the north Arabian Sea a more difficult area to venture into for Indian warships. The Pakistan Navy (PN) intends to acquire 10 of the aircraft and is estimated to have taken delivery of five so far. With two of the aircraft from the 28 squadron now destroyed, the PN is left with only three. Maritime surveillance requires long hours of flying and the long-range maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare aircraft have to take turns to cover as large an area as the north Arabian sea through which India’s oil supplies transit. Apart from sophisticated detection equipment (radars and sensors), the P-3C Orion can be armed with Harpoon missiles and surface-attack bombs. Pakistan now finds its capability to patrol the north Arabian Sea hugely limited. Details of the damage caused by the attackers are yet unknown. Among the flying assets based in PNS Mehran was a squadron of the Atlantique (French-origin surveillance aircraft older than the P-3C). An Atlantique was shot down by the Indian Air Force in August 1999 after it had intruded into Indian airspace in Gujarat. Other assets at PNS Mehran included Fokker short-range planes, and Seaking and Alouette helicopters.