Four years ago, India claimed to have targeted a camp of a militant organization in Pakistan's territory, and Pakistan Air Force jets retaliated for the violation of Pakistani borders. This article is being republished today, four years after the incident.)
After India violated Pakistani airspace on February 26, 2019, the Pakistani military confirmed the incident and said that after the Pakistani planes came into the air, they dropped their bombs in a hurry and went back. On the other hand, India had claimed that in one of its air strikes, it had targeted a camp of banned militant outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot area. In this context, we spoke to Air Marshal Masood Akhtar, a former Pakistan Air Force officer, to answer some basic questions.
In response to this question, Air Marshal (retired) Masood Akhtar said that during the days of tension, combat air patrolling is done around the clock, that is, fighter jets armed with missiles patrol continuously. Meanwhile, if any aircraft comes within 50 km of the domestic airspace, the patrolling aircraft are ready to meet it and prevent the foreign aircraft from entering its airspace. In peacetime, if a foreign aircraft comes within 10 km, it is not shot down but forced to return after giving a warning.
If there is tension and the planes are patrolling, it takes no time to retaliate. If the plane is on the ground and the pilot is in the cockpit, the plane will be in the air in the next three minutes. If the pilot is in an air defense alert hut, it takes five minutes to get to the plane, sit in the cockpit and take off. In yesterday's incident, Pakistani aircraft were already doing combat air patrol, so as soon as they were detected and directed by the Pakistani combat controllers, they reached there.
Air Marshal Retired Masood Akhtar says that instructions were probably given by both sides not to clash directly. That's why the Pakistani planes forced them to go back instead of trying to shoot them down, while the Indian planes also didn't face the Pakistani planes, quickly dropped the payload and left quickly.
Anything that is placed under the wings of an aircraft is called payload. For example, missiles, bombs and rockets are all included in the payload. To increase the speed of the plane, the plane has to be lightened so that it can leave a place quickly and the planes coming from behind cannot hit you. In a recent incident, the Indian planes therefore dropped their payload i.e. their ammunition to reduce their weight and take off quickly.
Mirage aircraft were used by India in the event of the Indian Air Force dropping bombs in Pakistani territory, while Pakistan had F-16 and JF-17 fighter jets for its defense. According to Air Marshal Masood Akhtar, the F-16 Block 52 is a better aircraft than the Mirage, while the JF-17 Thunder and some other versions of the F-16 are equal to the Mirage. Masood Akhtar says that India has upgraded its Mirage aircraft from France, but still F-16 has superiority over Mirage in terms of weapons and radar. He said that modern third generation aircrafts have 9G capability
You must be logged in to post a comment.