IAF carries out major readiness exercise along Pakistan border

The Indian Air Force carried out a major readiness exercise last night over Punjab and Jammu in which a large number of fighter aircraft participated.

During the exercise, Indian Air Force (IAF) jets, including frontline aircraft, flew at supersonic speeds in the border districts including Amritsar in Punjab, sources said here.

The reason for carrying out the combat drill was to be prepared for thwarting any misadventure by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) to intrude into the Indian air space, they said.

The IAF has been on a high alert ever since it carried out air strikes on a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist camp in Balakot town of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunwa province on February 26.

A couple of days ago, two PAF fighter jets flew at supersonic speeds over Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir around 10 kilometres from the Line of Control in the Poonch sector.

After the PAF started flying its planes close to Indian borders and were detected and monitored closely by the air defence network, the Indian fighter plane fleet was also ready to respond to them.

The IAF had an edge over the adversary in the aerial combat as its vintage MiG-21 fighter flown by Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman shot down a modern F-16D fighter plane of the PAF in a beyond visual-range fight.

The IAF also managed to thwart the PAF attack on Indian Army positions on February 27 after India targeted non-military positions a day earlier.

During the February 26 air strikes also, the PAF F-16s had to return gauging the enormity of the IAF attack with 12 Mirages.