Originally Posted by
denlopviper
like the last fabricated so called surgical strike (atleast this time there actually was an airspace violation)? Or when they shot down an Pakistan Navy Atlantique
Link in Pakistani airspace? There must be a better way to test the reaction
after all Indians claim the Pakistanis to be warmongers. If that were the case, the response could have been nuclear. Hell of a gamble if you ask me. Fortunately the Indians proved that not only are Pakistanis sane people, but also that the Pakistanis are better equipped to deal with them, pakistan being at war on the western front since 2001 makes it a very combat hardened military.
But hey what do I know, i am not a military man
The Atlantique event, being about 20 years old, is a bit long in the tooth to be relevant to this clash. (What/when was the last "surgical strike" that probably wasn't that you refer to?) Is that the same as the Atlantique, or something else?
As to "there must be a better way to test the reaction": must there be? You give the political leadership far too much credit.
I spent over two decades in the military. I will say without reservation that it is not uncommon for orders from on high (at the political level) to come down. Once received and digested, one looks at one's colleagues and asks "what are those idiots in the capital thinking? What were they drinking, or smoking, just before they came up with this cunning plan?"
If the Indian leadership figured they could slip in, deliver some ordnance, and then slip out, they discovered otherwise. That means "Goodonya Pakistan's Air Force, you were on task when you needed to be."
As to "going nuclear" ... my guess is that it would take a lot more than a border incursion in Kashmir to evoke that kind of response.