Ghaziabad: The Balakot air strikes reflect a major shift in the government's way of handling terror attacks and show its resolve to punish the perpetrators of terrorism, Indian Air Force chief R K S Bhadauria said on Tuesday.
In his Air Force Day message, Bhadauria, who took charge as the Chief of Air Staff a little over a week ago, said the IAF must maintain a high serviceability of combat equipment and exceptional training standards to ensure operational success in all future operations.
"The strategic relevance of this (Balakot strike) is the resolve of the political leadership to punish the perpetrators of terrorism and the capability of the IAF to execute a strike inside Pakistan.
This has been a major shift in the government's way of handling terrorists attacks," he said in a written message on the 87th anniversary of the Indian Air Force.
Without naming Pakistan, Bhadauria said the present security environment in India's neighbourhood is a serious cause of concern and the Pulwama terror strike is also a stark reminder of persistent threat to defence installations.
"While security of all our assets is of paramount, I also expect air warriors to pay particular attention to the security of our information and cyber networks," Bhadauria said in his written message.
