The mission was carried out by the same squad of Mirage-2000 fighter jets that had carried out the Balakot strikes, in which five of the six designated targets were hit in the cross-border operation codenamed ‘Operation Bandar’ two ago. years, as previously reported by TOI.
To commemorate the second anniversary of #BalakotOperations, the participating squads carried out a long-range precision s… https://t.co/CBa41wKLY3
– Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) 1614432420000
IAF chief Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria also flew a Mirage-2000 on Saturday in a multi-aircraft outing, which included Sukhoi-30MKI Jets in addition, to mark the occasion, officials said.
The mission carried out in Pokhran, by the way, also used the Israeli Spice-2000 precision-guided penetration bombs that were used during the Balakot attacks.
In 2019, backed by IL-78 airborne refuelers and AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) aircraft, the Mirage-2000s were deployed in the “strike package” against Balakot from Gwalior, Agra and Bareilly, instead of advanced air bases to retain the element of surprise in the early morning of February 26, 2019.
The IAF had also simultaneously deployed “a decoy package” of Sukhoi-30MKIs apparently headed toward JeM’s headquarters in Bahawalpur in the Punjab province to ensure that Pakistani combat air patrols were kept away from the actual “strike package” destined for Balakot in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, as TOI reported.
The IAF had achieved its “strategic and operational objective of successfully bombing” the JeM terrorist facility in Balakot. But he lost the MiG-21 flown by Wing Commander. Abhinandan Varthaman, who shot down an F-16 before he himself was ejected and captured by Pakistani forces, in the air skirmish in the Nowshera sector along the Line of Control one day after Operation Bandar.
The “friendly fire” also downed an Mi-17 helicopter, which killed six IAF personnel and a civilian, in Budgam around the same time as the air skirmish.
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