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The Kashmir region is a source of great tension for many years between India and Pakistan. Many incidents have taken place in it along the years and lately one more has been added. The Pakistan military reports that it has shot down an Indian UAV that was in the region to collect intelligence. “An Indian spy drone used for aerial photography was shot down by Pakistani troops which intruded into Pakistan along the Line of Control (LoC) near Bhimber today,” the military said in a statement. From the Indian military has completely denied the incident and claimed that they know of no interception or crash of one of their UAVs.
India has a large array of UAVs, some of them have been acquired from Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). One of the UAVs acquired is the Israeli Heron, used for different intelligence missions. India is also known as one of the main clients to purchase Israeli military systems.
The reports of the Indian vehicle being shot down, whether they are true as Pakistan says, or false, as India claims, are a small window to the deep tension between the two rivals. Many eyes are losing sleep over this tension, as both countries have nuclear weapons and there’s a concern that in a dire situation, one of them might use it against the other. Let us hope that this UAV interception isn’t the start of any such escalation.
