New Delhi: Former IAF vice-chief, Air Marshal P.K. Barbora (Retd), known for calling a spade a spade, passed away Monday at the Army Research and Referral Hospital here following illness.
He was 72.
Air Marshal Barbora (Retd) is regarded within the Indian Air Force (IAF) as the force behind the reactivation of the Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) airstrip in 2008, after over four decades of closure, at a time when the government and the IAF itself were sceptical.
Barbora was heading the Western Air Command (WAC) at the time. DBO, the highest airfield in the world, is an Advanced Landing Ground close to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China, east of Siachen. He had also activated the Fuk Che Advanced Landing Ground.
Born in Shillong, Air Marshal Barbora was the first officer from the Northeast to reach such a high post in the armed forces.
IAF officers described him as a dynamic personality who believed in fighting as a team. During his tenure as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C) of the WAC, he initiated joint exercises with northern, western and south-western commands of the Army.
The WAC continues to provide air support to Army units deployed in the glacier region.
Announcing his appointment as vice-chief on 1 June 2009, a Ministry of Defence press release had said that, under his command, the WAC had achieved very high aircraft utilisation rates, and night operations by the fighter and transport aircraft had increased substantially.
“Strikingly, the operational command that accounts for nearly 35 percent of IAF’s flying task recorded ‘zero’ flying accident rate at the end of the last fiscal year — an achievement unheralded before,” it had said.
Born on 10 December 1950 and commissioned into the IAF as a fighter pilot on 13 June 1970, Air Marshal Barbora had taken part in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War too.
He was a member of the IAF team that inducted the first Jaguar squadron, and also the IAF’s maiden Air Combat Simulator, the first of its kind in Asia.
He was a recipient of the Param Vishisht Seva Medal and Vayu Sena Medal.
Also Read: At 16,700 ft, on mud strip: IAF pilot on how his AN-32 reopened Daulat Beg Oldi after 43 yrs
Known for being outspoken
Air Marshal Barbora was known for being outspoken, and it also got him into trouble.
In 2009, he ruffled feathers in the political circles when he said the politics over defence purchases impinged on India’s military requirements.
Speaking at a seminar organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), he said whatever defence requirements were cleared by the government of the day were opposed by the Opposition parties, and the same happened when the roles were reversed.
He had also blasted the Indian defence industry ecosystem, saying, “As far as defence (exports) goes, we do not even match up to Pakistan.”
India is happy producing small parts of aircraft and exporting them to Airbus in Europe, whereas China has already started building whole aircraft for the same company, he said.
Asking the private companies to do reverse engineering, the then IAF vice-chief said, “Forget about ethics. China has done all the reverse engineering. Has anyone ever had the courage to ask China ‘why are you doing it’? No one cares a hoot. We have not been able to move forward for some reason or the other.”
In November the same year, while speaking at a curtain-raiser before the then President Pratibha Patil’s Sukhoi-30 MKI flight, Air Marshal Barbora courted another controversy over comments about the induction of women.
He said inducting women pilots in the fighter stream would take a while, and certain preconditions might be laid down before they are allowed.
“We can induct women fighter pilots for show purposes. But we spend [an] exorbitant amount on training fighter pilots, and if we are not able to utilise them optimally, it may not be prudent to have women fighter pilots at the moment…” he added.
“Once the lady goes the family way, she will be off flying for 10 months. And when we have invested so much, it is not a fruitful development… We may say (if women are allowed in the fighter stream) that till this age, you can be happily married but do not go for pregnancy till that time. After 14-15 years of service, the value (of the money invested) is recovered…. We are just looking into the area.”
Even for men, he said, “we do not allow them to leave the service before a certain period of time”.
He was subsequently made to apologise for these remarks.
Reactivated DBO after 40 years
Air Marshal Barbora (Retd) claimed that the DBO was reactivated without any written orders.
While the claim that has been refuted by multiple IAF officers in private, they all credit Air Marshal Barbora for pushing the case.
Air Vice-Marshal Suryakant Chafekar (Retd), who piloted the AN-32 aircraft whose landing reopened DBO — with Air Marshal Barbora as a passenger — in 2008, wrote for ThePrint detailing the episode.
After taking over as commanding officer of the 48 Squadron flying the AN-32s in 2008, he said he planned to propose a landing at Daulat Beg Oldi, adding that he wanted to present the idea to Air Marshal Barbora, who was then commanding the WAC.
“Then came the moment. I hesitantly, almost sheepishly, asked for the commander-in-chief’s permission to present a new proposal. He agreed and the details were promptly flashed with a lot of enthusiasm regarding the operational necessities, the difficulties, the technical challenges of the task etc,” he wrote. “The squadron was surprised with his response; Barbora welcomed the proposal and immediately gave approval. I was told to present the details before the Western Air Command in the next two months, with greater emphasis on technical challenges.”
Talking about the landing, which took place on 31 May 2008, he wrote, “To add ‘Brass’ to the aircrew, we had on board Air Marshal Pranab Barbora himself as a passenger — of course he did not want to disturb the crew by being in the cockpit during this difficult mission, but he was sharing the risk of the sortie, like a true leader would.
“He was not going to sit in New Delhi while the action took place at DBO.”
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
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