Imran Khan's response proves we hit the target in Balakot, says IAF chief

COIMBATORE/NEW DELHI: Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa said on Monday that Pakistan’s attempted retaliation, which sparked an aerial dogfight, clearly indicated that the Indian Air Force hit Jaish-e-Muhammed targets in Balakot. “If we plan to hit the target, we hit the target. Otherwise, why would he (PM Imran Khan) have responded? If we dropped bombs in jungles, why would he respond?” he asked, adding the preliminary bomb damage assessment showed the Spice-2000 bombs had hit the pre-designated targets.

The reference to ongoing operations seems in context of a state of high alert after the Indian bombing of the Jaish camp and Pakistan’s retaliatory raid along the Line of Control near Nowshera in which a MiG-21 shot down a Pakistani F-16 and was itself brought down. The MiG pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman’s parachute landed in PoK and he was returned after a spell in captivity.

The IAF chief, speaking for the first time after the JeM facility in Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province was hit by Indian Mirage-2000s, said his force was not in the business of counting the number of casualties inflicted in a strike mission.

Intelligence reports had indicated presence of over 300 terrorists at the JeM facility on that day. Pakistan has claimed IAF bombs fell in open forested areas but BS Dhanoa said targets were struck. Foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale had last week said “a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis were eliminated” in the February 26 operation.

Asked why ageing MiG-21s were deployed against Pakistani F-16s, which along with JF-17s and Mirage-5 attack jets had sought to target Indian military installations on February 27, the IAF chief said, “See, one is a planned operation in which you plan and carry out, like the first strike we did. But when an adversary does a strike on you, every available aircraft goes in, irrespective of which aircraft it is. All aircraft are capable of fighting the enemy."

After the high-altitude dogfight on February 27, parts of an AIM-120C advanced medium-range air-to-air missile (Amraam), which is only carried by F-16s in Pakistan’s combat fleet, was recovered from east of Rajouri in J&K. Claims that India “managed” to get parts of the missile, possibly of Taiwanese origin, were denied by Taiwan which said armaments in its use were not transferred to any third country.

“Obviously, I think they have lost an F-16 aircraft in that combat. I don't know what is the end-user agreement between America and Pakistan. If the end-user agreement was that they will not use it for offensive purposes, then I think they have violated that end-user agreement,” BS Dhanoa said.

The MiG-21s in IAF’s combat fleet have been equipped with better weapons, air-to-air missiles and radars to upgrade them “from third generation to 3.5 generation or so”, he added.