New Delhi: The missing Malayasia Airlines Boeing plane carrying 239 people was deliberately diverted from its route by persons suspected to be hijackers, and with this has cropped up a question, whether the hijackers wanted to target India.
Indian Air Force officials reject as outlandish the possibility that the hijacked plane could have flown over India on its way to Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan in Central Asia.
Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak says, the plane's transponders were deliberately switched off and the plane was diverted. In that case there were only two possible corridors: one starting from northern Thailand to Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan overflying India, and the other from Indonesia to southern Indian Ocean.
IAF officers say, if the plane had tried to cross the Indian mainland, the IAF primary radars would have picket it up even though its transponders were switched off. In such case, a series of air defence measures, including interception, would have taken place.
Even though there are gaps in India's civil and military radar networks, it was virtually impossible for the hijacked plane to fly undetected over the vast Indian mainland.
The IAF official said, all the five Airports Authority of India radars at Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad are integrated with the IAF's air defence network.
Even if the plane had flown over Indian mainland, neighbouring Pakistan, whose radar network is fully equipped towards any oncoming aircraft from India, would have noticed.
As of the moment, the Indian Navy, IAF and Coast Guard are scanning an area spanning over 2,50,000 sq km in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal with six warships and aerial surveillance by P-8I long-range maritime surveillance craft, medium-range Dornier and a C-130J Super Hercules aircraft.
