New Delhi: The Golden Temple management allowed the deployment of air defence guns within the shrine for the first time in history during Operation Sindoor, Lt Gen Sumer Ivan D’Cunha, director general, Army Air Defence (AAD), told ANI in an interview. The lights of the temple were also switched off for the first time to facilitate the detection of drones and incoming missiles, the general officer said.
“Fortunately, we visualised what they (Pakistan) were capable of doing. Realising that they would target it because they had no legitimate targets across the border. They were more interested in creating confusion, chaos internally, and hence, we visualised that they would target our civil population and our religious places of worship,” Lt Gen D’Cunha said.
“It was very nice that the Head Granthi of the Golden Temple allowed us to deploy our guns. It is possibly for the first time in many years that they switched off the Golden Temple lights so that we could see the drone coming,” he added.
The permission came after the management was briefed on the gravity of the threat, he said, adding: “They allowed us to deploy guns to secure and protect the monument of international fame which is visited by hundreds and thousands of people every day. Hence, these guns were deployed, and the golden temple lights were switched off so that we could clearly visualise the drones as they were coming in. That gave us a greater clarity in the sky because as and when you saw the light, you knew what to engage.”
The DG also praised the support his units received from the local population, especially ex-servicemen. “It’s amazing that in all our border towns in Punjab, Haryana and parts of Jammu, not to take away anything from the rest of India, retired ex-servicemen were prepared to come out of retirement. They kept on asking what they can do to help. I think that’s huge,” he said.
According to him, it speaks volumes about our national culture when veterans, some of them former AD gunners, well into retirement, come out to help.
He said that India had conducted a simulation exercise on April 26-28 to prepare for a potential drone attack by Pakistan. Hence, the country’s air defence system was prepared when Pakistan started sending in cheap drones by their hundreds to saturate the radar. The Indian Army adopted a tactical approach by not continuously emitting radar signals. They switched on and off intermittently to engage targets within gun range. This tactic kept Pakistan from getting a fix on India’s radar positions.
“The moment you gave out your emitter position, his next line of drones would come to hit the radar. So, what do you do? You switch it on at the appropriate time, when you realise that the target is within your gun range. You switch on the radar intermittently, slew your guns and engage the target. But if you continuously emit as the drones want you to do, they will saturate your screen and then bring in someone from the rear, an armed drone, to hit your radar as a kamikaze drone,” Lt Gen D’Cunha said.
