'Impossible to breach': IAF attributes India's invincible air defence to budgetary support by Centre

Air Marshal AK Bharti, Director General of Air Operations.

The Indian Air Force on Monday said that India's air defence stood as a wall that Pakistan found "impossible to breach" and attributed the performance and efficacy of the air defence systems to the budget and policy support by the government.

"Our fight was with terrorists and their infrastructure and not with the Pakistan military. It's a pity that Pakistan military chose to intervene and take sides with terrorists. We attacked terror camps on May 7," Air Marshal AK Bharti, Director General of Air Operations, said on Tuesday.

"Our air defence system acted as a wall and it was impossible for the enemies to breach...Putting together and operationalisation of this potent AD environment has been possible over the last decade, due to unwavering budgetary and policy support provided by the Gol, in acquiring state-of-the art equipment and weapon systems," Air Marshal Bharti said while addressing a joint press conference of the Director Generals of the Indian Air Force, the Indian Army and the Indian Navy in New Delhi on Monday.

During his opening address, Air Mashal Bharti also credited India's strong air defence systems for minimizing the damage to both civilian and military infra in the country, in spite of the and unrelenting efforts by Pakistani forces.

India's robust air defence system comprises of a large variety of air defence sensors, and Weapon Systems- from point defence weapons like the LLAD guns, shoulder-fired MANPADS and short-range SAMS, to area defence weapons like the AD fighter ac, and longer range SAMs held in our inventory, Air Marshal Bharti said.

"Additionally, the numerous waves of drones and UCAVs employed by Pakistan were also thwarted by the indigenously developed soft and hard-kill Counter-UAS systems and the well-trained Indian AD personnel. All this was brought together as an efficient and effective air defence environment, by the Integrated Air Command & Control System (IACCS) of the lAF, which accords us Net-Centric Op capability," he added.

The Centre had allocated a record Rs 6.81 lakh crore for the Ministry of Defence in Union Budget 2025-26, an increase of 9.53 percent from the previous year. This included Rs 1.8 lakh crore for the modernisation of the military. India's defence budget accounted for 1.9 per cent of India's projected GDP for 2024-25.

As per the date released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, India's military expenditure stands much higher than Pakistan. As per the data, India;s military spending stood at USD 86.1 billion during the 2024-25 as compared to Pakistan's USD 10.2 billion spending during the year.

As per data from Macrotrends, India's military spending doubled from USD 41 billion in 2013 to USD 80 billion in 2024. The rising budget has been corresponding with support to significant investments in air force modernisation, naval assets, missile systems, and an expanding nuclear arsenal that underline India's ongoing efforts to enhance its strategic capabilities.