Amid heightened tension between India and Pakistan post Pulwama terror attack on February 14, the IAF on Monday scrambled its jets in Punjab after radars saw an unusually large Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) along with a flight of at least four F-16 of Pakistan Air Force coming close to the international border in Punjab. The swift action forced the Pakistani jets to retreat deeper into their territory.
Giving details of the incident, sources here said the UAV and the F-16s flying on the Pakistani side started coming close to the border around 3am when the Indian radars picked up the movement. Not willing to take any chances in the current scenario, two SU-30s and two Mirage jets were scrambled by the IAF to ward off any threat. Faced with such swift response, the Pakistani jets opted to back off and a possible confrontation was avoided, they added.
Earlier on February 27, four Pakistani F-16s had intruded into the Indian airspace in Rajouri in an effort to target military installations. The IAF had then scrambled its Mirage and MIG-21s to chase away the Pakistani jets.
In the ensuing aerial duel, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman flying a MIG-21 had shot down an F-16. However, during the combat, he entered Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) and Varthaman’s jet was shot down by Pakistan air defence. He bailed out and was captured by the Pakistan Army and released two days later. The Pakistani jets had carried out the attack in retaliation against Indian air strikes in Balakot a day earlier.
Since then, the defence forces are maintaining maximum operational readiness along the fronts facing Pakistan. In fact, the IAF shot down at least two Pakistani spy drones on a mission to gather intelligence about Indian military positions in Rajasthan sector in early March.