The Indian Air Force used its Mirage-2000 fighter jets to launch the Balakot airstrike on Feb 26

New Delhi: The Indian Air Force released a promotional video featuring the story of the Balakot airstrike from earlier this year that targeted a terrorist camp in Pakistan. The video was released by IAF chief Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria ahead of the Indian Air Force Day, which falls on October 8. The promotional video features shots of fighter jets taking off, dropping missiles and radars zooming in to targets.

While releasing the video, Air Chief Marshal Bhaduria clarified that the video footage in the promotional video was not actually from February 26, when Mirage-2000 fighters of the Indian Air Force took from various airfields in India and launched an airstrike targeting a Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist camp in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.


The video features a voice over that talks about how the Indian Air Force avenged the Pulwama terror attack of February 14 in which 40 Jawans of the Central Reserve Police Force were killed.

The voice over is accompanied by visuals of IAF pilots in a briefing room. The pilots are then seen running out to their Mirage-2000 fighter jets and taking off. This is followed by visuals of air traffic control centres as well as shots of radars zooming in to potential targets.

The video also briefly shows the story of the February 27 dogfight between Indian and Pakistani fighter jets. This part features visuals of MiG-21 fighter jets, which were involved in the dogfight, taking off from a runway.
BALAKOT AIRSTRIKE

The Balakot airstrike was launched on February 26, around two weeks after a Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist rammed a car full of explosives into a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama. Forty CRPF Jawans were killed in the attack.

In response, the Narendra Modi government gave the military a free hand to respond to the attack, carried out by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad.

On February 26, the Indian Air Force's Mirage-2000 fighter jets took off from various airfields in India. The fighter jets launched smart bombs that targetted Jaish-e-Mohammad's largest terror facility, located in Balakot in Pakistan's Kyber Pakhtunwa.

The next day, Pakistan responded to the pre-dawn Balakot airstrike by sending its fighter jets into India. The Indian Air Force scrambled a pack of its Sukhoi Su-30 and MiG-21 fighter jets.