NEW DELHI, MAY 30: Despite the air force losing an MI-17 helicopter gunship to a Stinger missile on Friday, the frequent sorties its pilots have been executing daily at heights of 16,000 feet are some kind of a record compared with pilots of other air forces. Operating in possibly the most inhospitable conditions, IAF pilots are further handicapped by the relatively outdated aircraft they use. ``The pilots are doing an amazing job,'' said Air Chief Marshal S K Kaul, former chief of air staff.Ironically, the Apache attack helicopters, touted as the most lethal weapon in the US aerial arsenal, will never fly combat missions in the former Yugoslavian republic of Kosovo, because they are unable to cope with the mountains hills, according to one diplomat here in the region that are barely 6,000 feet high.By contrast, the rugged Russian MI-17s that have been retrofitted locally to give them additional fire power have, for years, been negotiating daily the icy slopes of the Siachen glacier at heights ofaround 20,000 feet.Along with the French-designed, locally built Cheetah and Chetak helicopters, the MI-17s form the Army's lifeline to Siachen, ferrying in supplies and evacuating the two casualties every day (mainly of the freezing temperatures).Each helicopter pilot has been making an average of around 30 landings a month on the glacier since the mid-1980s in unpredictable weather and almost always under fire from Pakistan artillery. Over the years several pilots have suffered injuries.Military officials say the MI-17s, meant essentially for carrying medium loads, have been provided enhanced missile firing capacity. Flying at a speed of around 200 km per hour they hug the ground and are better equipped than fighters flying at sub-sonic speeds to take out targets like cement bunkers and snow dugouts.In the heat of combat there is also little chance of them straying over the Line of Control (LoC) into Pakistan, compared with the MiG series of fighter jets deployed in Kargil.Now take theApaches. Touted as the decisive weapon system to end the Kosovo crisis when deployed in Albania last month, the 24 Apaches were expected to compensate for the inadequate air campaign NATO had launched over two months ago against the Serb military. General Sir Charles Gutheric, the British chief of defence staff, stressed the efficacy of Apaches at an official briefing when their induction was first announced. They were touted as the ``silver bullet'' to effectively end the Kosovo crisis.However, reports from the area quoting military officials said the Apaches, based near Tirana, had been rendered incapable of striking Serb military targets perched on hillsides. Only by fitting additional fuel tanks would they be able to negotiate the mountain region. That, though, is likely to reduce their weapons payload of 16 Hellfire missiles by almost half. It would also jeopardise their capacity to manoeuvre and defend themselves against attacks from the ground.Two Apaches have already crashed on exercises duringtraining in the area, killing two crew members, and the US military has announced it would not hand over command of the helicopters to NATO. President Slobodan Milosevic, it appears, has won another round against NATO without even trying.Though the IAF also has Russian Mi-25 helicopter gunships in its inventory, military sources said they lacked the power to sustain themselves over long periods at heights of around 16,000 feet. The Indian Army has long been demanding attack helicopters for such an eventuality but its demands have been turned down by succeeding governments.
