Indian airspace violated 11 times: Antony

NEW DELHI: Government today said that 11 aircraft belonging to Pakistan, China and the United States violated Indian airspace in the last one year.

"In six separate incidents, five Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and one medium-sized aircraft from Pakistan violated Indian airspace in last one year," Defence Minister A K Antony told Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

The Pakistani aircraft had entered Indian aerial territory in December 2008 and in January, February, March, August and September this year.

Antony said five Chinese aircraft, including four helicopters, had entered Indian territory between May and June this year.

Two Chinese helicopters each had entered Ladakh and dropped food items inside Indian territory June 21 and 24 after a slow-moving aircraft entered Indian airspace on May 13.

One transport and one cargo aircraft from the US had also violated Indian airspace in June and October respectively, the Defence Minister said.

Antony said that all such cases of airspace violation are taken up with concerned countries through diplomatic channels.