ISTANBUL: Treachery and incompetence on the part of some of the Indian Air Force officers who had been training the United Arab Republic Air Force contributed to the debacle of the Egyptian Air Force in the face of Israeli ‘blitzkrieg’ on the morning of June 5.

Under the Indo-UAR Defence Co-operation Agreement, IAF personnel have been training the UAR Air Force for several years.

The IAF mission in Egypt consists of some 20 officers and instructors. Indian instructors were preferred by the UAR owing to its non-alignment policy. Some time ago, Pakistan warned the UAR about the reliability of Indian armed service personnel and even furnished proof about contacts between these officers in Bombay and Israeli Consul-General in that city. These warnings went unheeded, however, and the Indo-UAR co-operation in defence matters was stepped up.

During [this correspondent’s] recent stay in Cairo [he] was able to ascertain through a reliable authority that a number of secrets of the UAR Air Force were disclosed to Israelis by the IAF personnel. Moreover, the kind of training they gave to the UAR Air Force was evidenced by the fact that nearly all of its bomber and fighter aircraft were lined up in rows on the morning of June 5 to be destroyed by attacking Israeli aircraft. The successful ‘blitzkrieg’ of the Israeli Air Force decided the outcome of the Arab-Israeli war within the first two hours.

Indo-UAR defence co-operation arrangements have of late been running into difficulties. Activities and movements of IAF personnel in Egypt have been restricted since the June war. Joint projects such as the proposed Indo-UAR supersonic jet fighter are facing serious difficulties. Air frame for this fighter aircraft was to have been supplied by India while the task of developing its engine had been entrusted to the state-owned aircraft factory at Helwan near Cairo.

Now the Indians are trying to wriggle out of the arrangement on grounds that the engine developed by the UAR at a considerable cost was not suited to their requirements.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2017