In the early hours of Tuesday, 12 Indian Air Force Mirage-2000 fighter jets, made by Dassault Aviation entered Pakistani airspace and dropped six 1,000-kg laser-guided bombs on Jaish-e-Mohammed training camp across the Line of Control.
IAF Sources: 12 Mirage 2000 jets took part in the operation that dropped 1000 Kg bombs on terror camps across LOC, completely destroying it pic.twitter.com/BP3kIrboku
— ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019
While India has many new-age fighter jets like the Sukhoi Su-30MKI and MiG 29, apart from the indigenously developed Tejas LCA in its arsenal, it was again the Mirage-2000 jet, which was used in the Kargil war, that was used for the unprecedented cross-border strike.
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Here’s why India chose Dassault Mirage-2000 for air strikes
The Mirage-2000 is undoubtedly one of the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) most versatile and deadliest aircraft and it was first commissioned in 1985.
The fighter jet played a decisive role in the 1999 war of Kargil, where the battle took place on terrains at high altitude, where aircraft and weapons had limited effectiveness.
The Mirage-2000 uses a single shaft engine that is light and simple as compared to other fighter jet engines.
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It can carry laser-guided bombs, air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles and has a Thomson-CSF RDY (Radar Doppler Multi-target) radar on board. It can launch multiple bombs at different targets simultaneously.
According to Ashok Saxena, a former Managing Director of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Mirages can fly at very high altitudes and can eliminate targets with laser-guided bombs.
‘Target identification for such an operation must have been done in advance with the help of satellites and drones.’ he said. ‘Once a target is pinpointed, Mirage has the capability to take it out with precision. Mirages are compact and have high stealth capabilities,’ Saxena added.
According to him, the air strikes across LoC must have involved very specific targets that were identified beforehand and the operation needed to be done in double quick time.
It was a surprise attack. AEWACS (Airborne Early Warning and Control System) must have been used. Mirage can fly in low and avoid radars as well. Mirages have done their jobs. They are truly multirole: ground, air, low altitude, high altitude and lightweight. It is a wonderful aircraft, he added.
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