ACM BS Dhanoa leads Missing Man formation to pay tribute to 1999 Kargil war hero

A squadron of MiG-21 aircraft led by Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa on Monday flew in the Missing Man formation to pay tribute to Squadron Leader Ajay Ahuja who was killed in action in Operation Safed Sadar during the Kargil war.

"We remember Ajay Ahuja with a feeling of nostalgia, he was our flight commander. We had served together twice in the past, in 101 and 29 squadron. He was my number two and flight commander, every year we pay homage to him by flying in the Missing Man formation. We will do the same tomorrow with helicopters in Sarsawan, I will also take part in it," Dhanoa told ANI here.

Dhanoa also talked about how the Kargil war had made IAF gain capabilities in mountain warfare by forcing it to adapt to the job at hand.

"The Kargil war built the Air Force's capability to fight in the mountains and it also built the capability to take out small targets. Usually, in wars you don't let the enemy cross, you take out their supply lines, we learnt a lot during that time," he said.

Air Marshal R Nambiar also took part in the exercise being held in the honour of the Kargil War martyr at the Indian Air Force base in Bhisiana.

Kargil War, also known as the Kargil conflict, was an armed conflict between India and Pakistan that took place between May and July 1999 in the Kargil district of Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control (LoC).

The IAF had played a key role in enabling the Indian Army to recapture the majority of the positions on the Indian side of the LOC infiltrated by the Pakistani troops and terrorists.

The war came to an end on July 26 with a decisive victory for India as it regained Kargil and Pakistan being criticised globally for instigating war and for making its paramilitary forces cross the LoC.