CLASHES OVER KASHMIR
- Aviation Features
- Clashes Over Kashmir
21st March 2019
FEATURE
A series of confrontations beginning in late February saw Indian Air Force (IAF) and Pakistan Air Force (PAF) aircraft engage in air combat and strikes on targets in the disputed territory of Kashmir. During these encounters the loss of at least one Indian MiG-21bisUPG fighter was confirmed.
The IAF launched air raids on February 26 in response to a militant attack in Kashmir that killed 40 Indian troops – the deadliest to take place during a threedecade insurgency against Indian rule in the region. Jaish-e-Muhammad, a Pakistanbased group claimed responsibility for the attack. IAF Mirage 2000s struck a suspected militant training camp at Balakot in Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province in the early hours, reportedly using Israelimade SPICE standoff munitions. A day later, the PAF conducted air strikes over the ceasefire line, reportedly targeting Indian Army positions and a logistics installation. The aerial attacks across the Line of Control (LoC) dividing Indian and Pakistani territory are the first since the two countries went to war in 1971.
Pakistan claimed to have shot down two IAF aircraft that entered the country’s airspace during its February 27 strikes. Authorities in Islamabad initially said two IAF pilots had been captured. In fact, only one was confirmed taken into custody: Wg Cdr Abhinandan Varthaman had been flying MiG-21bisUPG serial CU2328 of No 51 Squadron. As a gesture of goodwill, he was handed back on March 1 at the Wagah border crossing.
Varthaman’s MiG-21 was among those scrambled together with Su-30MKIs and Mirage 2000s to intercept a large package of PAF aircraft detected by IAF radar heading towards Indian territory in the general area of Jhangar before crossing into Indian airspace west of Rajauri in the Sunderbani area. It is unclear what PAF type claimed the MiG-21 kill, however, parts of an AIM-120C-5 AMRAAM missile, which is only carried by F-16s in PAF service, were recovered from Indian territory east of Rajauri. Islamabad stated that none of its F-16s were involved in the mission. The Indian MoD claimed that a two-seat PAF F-16D was downed by a MiG-21 using an R-73 (AA-11 Archer) air-to-air missile. Both crewmembers were reported as having ejected. However, Pakistan denies losing any aircraft.
In a separate incident on the 27th, an IAF Mi-17V-5 helicopter crashed in the Budgam district of Jammu and Kashmir in India. The Hip had been flying a routine mission from Srinagar airfield when it came down, killing all six on board.
