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Operation Bandar: The Indian Air Force Mirage 2000 Balakot strike
In February 2019, when the Indian Air Force (IAF) Mirage 2000s struck at targets in Balakot, Pakistan, in retaliation for a terrorist attack on a convoy of the Indian Central Reserve Police Force in Kashmir.
As told by Sanjay Badri-Maharaj and Everton Pedroza in their book Terror and Response: The India-Pakistan Proxy War, 2008-2019, India was certain that a military response from Pakistan would occur shortly after the attacks in Balakot on 26 February.
In fact, the military response came shortly after: the Pakistani government opted for air-only action, targeting Indian military positions on ground and tackling IAF aircraft.
Operation Swift Retort
The operation, codenamed Operation Swift Retort, which was planned by respected Air Marshal Haseeb Paracha, aimed to:
- Employ PAF fighters to achieve local air supremacy and ensure that Pakistanis attack indigenous lines and get away with it;
- Block Indian air defence elements, preventing them from interfering in subsequent PAF attacks;
- Combat Indian BARCAP missions in POK to prevent Indian aircraft from crossing LoC for retaliation;
- Engage and shoot down Indian aircraft, chasing off the Su-30 and avoiding the Mirage 2000Is on CAP.
Around 0915 hrs local time, a package composed of several groups of aircraft, divided between four and eight aircraft each and led by a Pakistani Air Marshal flying in a 2000 SAAB, began taking off from the air bases of Kamra, Murid, Chandler, Sarghoda, Rafiq and Jacobabad, heading to the Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir. The goal was to attack 16 Indian positions located at the top of Krishna Ghat, near Poonch, the headquarters of the Bhimber Gali Brigade and the Indian Army ammunition depot at Narian.
In total, more than 30 aircraft were employed – 12 F-16s, 12 JF-17s, eight Mirages 5, two Saab 2000 Erieye and an uncertain number of Dassault Falcon 20s (also ‘DA-20’). Mission planners believed the IAF could not detect their approach or respond to the attack in time, thus leaving the airspace of Pakistani interest unprotected, except for few fighters in the northern sectors of Jammu and Kashmir.
With the Mirage 5 and Mirage III DAs equipped with Raptor IIID NESCOM H-2 and H-4 stand-off weapons, whilst the JF-17s had GIDS REK MK-83 GBUs, they planned to attack from ranges of 40 to 70km from the targets.
Activity on the Pakistani side
Around 0952 hrs, Indian air traffic in Bathinda detected ‘abnormal’ activity on the Pakistani side. Some Pakistani aircraft had tried to distract Indian air control by linking their IFF transponders, drawing attention to themselves by identifying themselves as PAF aircraft. Around 1000 hrs, the first formation approached Akhnoor’s LoC with two others heading towards the LoC, attempting to penetrate the Indian airspace in the vicinity of Poonch and Anupgarh.
Faced with an imminent threat, the IAF acted quickly to the north, scrambling four MiG-21 Bison and two MiG-29UPG fighters from Srinagar and Awantipur respectively, to support two other Mirage 2000I (formation with call-sign ‘Ironman’), and two Su-30MKIs from No. 15 Squadron (call-sign ‘Avenger’) were which were already on their CAP-stations. It is believed that unlike the other Indian aircraft, the first pair of MiG-21s (Alpha 1 and 2) had not been detected by Pakistani warning aircraft, because they were hidden by high mountains while still at low altitude. The first Bison took off at 1001 hrs, followed by the second, two minutes later: both flew under the Pakistani radar horizon, hidden behind the Pir Panjal mountains while approaching the nearest formation of PAF aircraft.
After crossing the LoC shortly after 1000 hrs, one of the Pakistani F-16s from the first group that violated Indian airspace was chased by one of the Su-30s approaching from south of where the intrusion took place and also by a MiG-21 Bison from No. 51 Squadron, from the north.
Su-30MKI evading AIM-120Cs
At that point in time, the Pakistani Air Force deployed electronic warfare, while – knowing the IAF’s rules of engagement – F-16s commenced their attack by firing several AIM-120Cs from high altitude and at maximum range. Both sides agree that the Su-30MKI with call-sign ‘Avenger 1’ returned to base after evading three missiles. The Indians claim that the wingman, ‘Avenger 2’ successfully evaded another.
Meanwhile, in the northern sector of the LoC, one of the F-16s fired another AIM-120C at the MiG-21 with call-sign ‘Alpha 2’: still inside own airspace, the plane evaded detection by flying outside the missile’s no escape zone. One of these AIM-120Cs eventually crashed in the village of Mamankote Mallas in India, causing an explosion that put debris within a 100 metre radius.
As far as is known, IAF pilots did not fire a single air-to-air missile in return. The reason was that in the game of ‘hot and cold’, their R-77s were outraged and as such, they tried to deploy their infra-red homing R-27s from the maximum engagement envelope of that weapon’s seeker head. Obviously, this was a risky decision considering the Pakistani AIM-120C-5s. However, they still managed to keep the enemy busy: whenever the Su-30s ‘turned hot’ – i.e., towards the opponent – the F-16s were forced to ‘turn cold’, i.e., away, in order to thwart their efforts. Ultimately, the Pakistani claim for one Su-30 to have been shot down remains without any merit or evidence.
MiG-21 shooting down F-16
Further south, eight JF-17s faced just two Mirage 2000Is, one of which was experiencing radar problems and broke off the engagement but were unable to engage. Meanwhile, at 1004 hrs, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, flying as ‘Alpha-1’, climbed to 15,000ft while keeping his IFF-transponder off. While accelerating to a speed of about 900km/h, he crossed the LoC. The Pakistanis were late in detecting the lonesome interceptor because it remained hidden until climbing above the nearby mountain peaks. What happened over the next few seconds remains a matter of intense debates. According to the IAF, Abinandan then engaged one of Pakistani F-16s, selected one of his R-73s and fired. India claims that his last recorded transmission had been, ‘R-73 selected’, and that a twoseater F-16 was shot down.
Despite frantic calls by Indian GCI to break-off the attack, excellent PAF ECM thwarted the radio calls. However, Abhinandan’s attack forced the PAF strike package to jettison at least 11 MK83REK and H-4SOW guided bombs – two each in Kishan Ghati, Bhimber Ghali, Keesbowl and Tackundi Bown along with one in Rajouri, one in Narian and the last at Bharat Gala – and beat a hasty retreat, well before reaching its initial points and thus, without causing any damage, or at least inconvenience to the Indian Army.
F-16 shooting down MiG-21
The only Pakistani to attempt fighting the lonesome MiG was piloted by Wing Commander Nauman Ali Khan, who fired one AIM-120C-5 as Abhinandan crossed the LoC. The Indian pilot flew a U-shaped curve and then a high-g barrel roll in attempt to evade but was nevertheless hit. Available evidence is indicative of Abhinandan’s MiG-21 Bison being hit over Sandar and crashing outside Horan.
Ejecting safely, the IAF pilot landed under his parachute and attempted to avoid civilians converging on him. Eventually, he was captured, beaten and brought to one of the Pakistani Army bases nearby. Abhinandan was released a few days later: Pakistan stressed, quite calmly, that he was ‘arrested’ and ‘not a prisoner of war’, thus indicating its willingness to de-escalate.
The loss of the MiG-21Bison was not the only tragedy to befall the IAF on that day. Thanks to a total miscommunication between Srinagar ATC and an IAF SPYDER SAM squadron, an IAF Mi-17V5, which was flown by Siddharth Vashisht and co-pilot Ninad Mandvgane, was shot down at 1010 hrs by a SPYDER surface-to-air missile. At the time of this book being written, the court martial is in progress.
Terror and Response: The India-Pakistan Proxy War, 2008-2019 is published by Helion & Company and is available to order here.
Photo credit: U.S. Air Force, Indian Air Force
