New Delhi: The IAF may have compromised the security of scores of sensitive Army posts in Jammu and Kashmir and North-East by disclosing their specific locations.
The IAF has given away the sensitive details about exact locations of Army forward bases, including their altitude along the border with China and Pakistan in a commercial open tender on its website.
The tender was issued earlier this month by the IAF to hire private and public sector helicopters for ferrying Army troops and cargo to forward bases in J&K and Arunachal Pradesh. In the 30-page Request for Proposal (RFP), the IAF has given the exact latitude and longitude of helipads and the requirements for the loads to be carried to those bases. It also gives out the details of the heights at which the helipads are located.
When asked, senior Army officers said "such details were classified in nature and should not have been given out in an open tender."
However, IAF officials were not forthcoming with a reaction on how this information about the Army locations was put out in public domain.
The 84 helipads, whose details have been given out, are located in places including Kishtwar, Kupwara, Tangdhar, Kanzalwan, Parkian Gali in Jammu and Kashmir and Tawang, Daporjo, Bhawani Drop Zone, Yangtze, Forward Post Tapukhar and Taksing in Arunachal Pradesh near the Chinese boundary. The RFP also gives out the dimensions of the helipads located in the sensitive areas in these two areas.
PTI