Role Of IAF In Kargil

hii sir, I wants to know about the operation run by the Indian Air force During the Kargil war will you please provide me some information about this operation ?

[Shaleen]

As you asking for the the operation run by the Indian Air force During the Kargil let me tell you that the operation named Safed Sagar aimed to flush out Regular and Irregular troops of the Pakistani Army from vacated Indian Positions in the Kargil sector along the Line of Control. I

It was the first large scale use of air power in the Jammu and Kashmir region since the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.


About the Air operation Safed Sagar

The Indian Air Force (IAF) was first approached to provide air support on 11 May with the use of helicopters. On 21 May a Canberra on a reconnaissance mission, flown by Wg Cdr CH Kulkarni, Sqn Ldr A Perumal and Sqn Ldr UK Jha, was hit by ground fire.

On 26 May, the go-ahead was given and the IAF started its strike role. Flying from the Indian airfields of Srinagar, Avantipur and Adampur, ground attack aircraft MiG-21s, MiG-23s, MiG-27s, Jaguars and the Mirage 2000 struck insurgent positions. Of note, although the MiG-21 is built mainly for air interception with a secondary role of ground attack, it is capable of operating in restricted spaces which was of importance in the Kargil terrain.

However, on 27 May, the first fatalities were suffered when a MiG-21 was shot down by Pakistan Army over Batalik sector, while a MiG-27 crashed due to engine flame-out The following day, a Mi-17 was lost- with the loss of all four of the crew- when it was hit by three Stinger missiles while on an offensive sortie.[3] These losses forced the Indian Air Force to reassess its strategy