In a major retaliation to the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were martyred, the Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out air strikes against JeM terror camps in the wee hours of Tuesday.
A fleet of Mirage 2000 deep-penetration fighter jets assisted by other assets of the Indian Air Force carried out the pre-dawn strike on the biggest terror camp of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror outfit in Pakistan.
12 Mirage 2000 fighter jets of the IAF carried out the air strikes for forty minutes in which JeM’s alpha-3 control room was completely destroyed.
According to sources, the Mirage 2000 multi-role aircraft was chosen for the strike for its capability to hit targets with "pin-point" accuracy.
A number of other assets and platforms of the IAF were also used in the operation, first inside Pakistan after the 1971 Indo-Pak war.
About the Mirage-2000
The Mirage 2000 is a French multi-role, single-engine fighter jet which is capable of dropping a range of bombs and missiles including laser-guided bombs. Known as the IAF's most versatile and deadliest aircraft, the fighter jet was first commissioned in 1985.
The fighter jet was developed by Dassault Aviation and took its first flight in 1978 and was inducted in the French Air Force in 1984.
The Mirage 2000s are fitted with Thales RDY 2 radar which can strike at targets with 100 per cent accuracy, said an IAF official to PTI on condition of anonymity.
The aircraft was preferred as it is capable of long-range engagement of targets and the assessment was that it can record 100 per cent success rate.
India had inducted the Mirage jets around 30 years back and they are being upgraded at a cost of around Rs 20,000 crore.
The Mirage 2000 was first used inside Pakistan after the 1971 war and also played a decisive role in the 1999 Kargil war
The Impact Mirage-2000 made in Surgical Strike 2.0
12 Mirage 2000 fighter jets of the Indian Air Force struck at the terror launch pads across the LoC completely destroying three terror camps. More than 1,000 kgs of bombs were dropped on the vast terror training facility at Balakot, taking out over 300 terrorists.
READ: 7 things India used to destroy terror camps across LoC
The swift and precise air strike, which came less than a fortnight after the Pulwama terror attack, was backed by a number of high-tech weaponry system to ensure maximum effect and minimum casualties.
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