[There were no immediate
indications of foul play. Videos from the crash site broadcast by local news
outlets showed the charred wreckage burning in a forested area, with local
residents and rescuers attempting to extinguish the blaze. Local outlets quoted
residents as saying the helicopter may have accidentally struck a tree.]
By Gerry Shih and Niha Masih
The Russian Mi-17V5 helicopter was
carrying Chief of Defense Staff Bipin Rawat and his wife when it crashed.
“With deep regret, it has now been
ascertained that Gen Bipin Rawat, Mrs Madhulika Rawat and 11 other persons on
board have died in the unfortunate accident,” the air force said in a statement.
There were no immediate indications
of foul play. Videos from the crash site broadcast by local news outlets showed
the charred wreckage burning in a forested area, with local residents and
rescuers attempting to extinguish the blaze. Local outlets quoted residents as
saying the helicopter may have accidentally struck a tree.
Rawat previously survived a
helicopter crash: In 2015, his Cheetah helicopter suffered an engine failure
and plummeted moments after it lifted off from a military base in northeast
India. Rawat suffered minor injuries.
Born into a military family, Rawat
began as an infantry commander and rose to become the army chief in 2019 when
he oversaw an airstrike in Pakistan’s Balakot in retaliation for a
terrorist attack against Indian soldiers in Kashmir. The Indian airstrike was
criticized for achieving scant military objectives, but it stoked nationalist
sentiment in India just weeks before national elections.
Rawat, 63, was promoted in 2019 to
chief of defense staff, a newly created role similar to the U.S. chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Rawat’s mandate was to lead a military modernization
effort to unify India’s army, navy and air force under one command.
On Wednesday, Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi hailed Rawat as an “outstanding soldier” who “greatly contributed
to modernizing our armed forces.” Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, who was for several
years Rawat’s direct counterpart in the rival Pakistani army, expressed condolences via the Pakistani military’s
Twitter account.
The Indian military has undergone a
significant reorientation in recent years as it redeploys resources and troops
once targeted toward Pakistan to confront China, its massive northern neighbor.
But under Rawat’s watch, the Indian military has seen its budget relative to
the government’s total expenditures shrink consistently year after year as
India’s economy sagged and its outlays on costs such as pensions have risen.
As Indian and Chinese troops skirmished along the remote Himalayan border in recent
years, Rawat had been one of the most vocal Indian officials to characterize
Beijing rather than Pakistan as the top threat to India. He pulled the Indian
military closer to the Biden administration, seeking to counter China. In
October, he visited Washington to discuss closer collaboration with his U.S.
counterpart, Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
After his death, the U.S. Embassy
in New Delhi issued a statement calling Rawat “a strong friend and partner of
the United States, overseeing a major expansion of India’s defense cooperation
with the U.S. military.”
Pravin Sawhney, a veteran defense
analyst and editor of Force Magazine in the Indian capital, said the military
overhaul that Rawat led was still old-fashioned and treated China as an
extension of India’s traditional adversary — Pakistan — rather than as a far
more sophisticated rival that could deploy advanced technology and
cyberweapons.
Rawat’s successor will need to
continue the modernization push but in a different way, Sawhney said.
“China today is three generations
ahead of India militarily,” he said. “Something new is required.”
Read more:
India and the U.S. face these 5 challenges
India and Chinese troops in fresh skirmish
As Biden hosts first Quad summit at the White House, China is
the background music
