On the first anniversary of Indian Air Force’s (IAF) strikes against terrorist camps at Balakot, Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria, chief of the air staff (CAS), flew a five aircraft mission at Srinagar Air Base along with aircrew from squadrons that had participated in the operations on 26 February 2019.
The IAF’s Mirage-2000s struck a Jaish-e-Mohammed camp in Balakot on February 26, 2019, in response to the Pulwama suicide bombing attack in Kashmir in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force men were killed twelve days earlier.
The CAS flew a MiG-21 Type 69 aircraft of 51 Squadron in a formation comprising of one MiG-21, two Mirage-2000s and two Sukhoi-30 MKIs.The 51 Squadron was activated following the Balakot Airstrike in 2019, and Wg Cdr Abhinandan Varthaman was a part of the 51 Squadron.
Speaking at a seminar in New Delhi, on 28 February, Air Chief Marshal Bhadauria said that the IAF was enhancing its weapon capabilities, sensor and network capabilities and enhancing ability for secure communication.
He said the air force could have struck Balakot with twice the number of warplanes and launched four times the weapons but it didn’t do so to ensure there was no collateral damage and India could take the moral high ground.
He said Pakistan’s response on February 27 to the Balakot air strikes was tailored to seek de-escalation as the neighbouring air force didn’t strike any targets and its action was aimed only at the domestic Pakistani audience. The air chief said the PAF was in a “hurry to disengage” and the IAF’s engagement surprised them.
In an interview to a newspaper, Bhadauria said the Balakot airstrike redefined the use of air power and marked a tectonic shift in government’s policy on national security.
He added that while there has been a “battle of narratives” over the event, and the subsequent air operations, the airstrike was one of the most important military operations undertaken by India. “The fact remains that the Balakot airstrikes were the most significant air action by the IAF in over four decades, when our fighters penetrated deep into Pakistan airspace, executed a precise attack on the terror camp and returned home unchallenged.”
At the time of the airstrike, Pakistan said there were no casualties, while New Delhi called the attack a pre-emptive strike that hit a terrorist training camp and killed “a very large number” of militants. Pakistan had countered India’s claim that it destroyed a Jaish-e-Mohammad madrassa, alleging that only a few trees had been felled in the Indian Air Force strike, and took representatives of some international media houses and foreign diplomats to the site in Balakot.
The air chief said that India was also able to use different channels to de-escalate the conflict and bring things back to normal, something that was not thought to be possible after the use of air power. He lauded the political and diplomatic efforts to quickly de-escalate the situation.
Weapons Edge
One crucial lesson from the Balakot air strike and air skirmishes that followed, was that India should not allow weapon edge over Pakistan to “slip back” once it is achieved with the induction of Rafale fighter jets and other weapon upgradation including indigenous missiles.
“It (weapon edge) did not materialiseat the time of Balakot and it will soon materialise with the induction of Rafale,” said Air Force chief. He said that IAF had an edge over Pakistan Air Force (PAF) in terms of Beyond Visual Range (BVR) missile capability at the time of Kargil. “We allowed that to slip and, thereafter, it took a decade and half in our struggle to acquire similar or better capabilities,” he said.
Pakistan Air Force F16s, which had come to target Indian military installations on 27 February 2019 were armed with the Beyond Visual Range (BVR) missile AMRAAM which has higher range than that of the R-77 on IAF’s Su 30MKI. However, 36 Rafale fighter jets, which India has purchased come with Meteor air-to-air missiles that have a range of 150 kms. Presently, PAF does not have missiles to counter Meteor missiles.
“With Rafale we will recover the edge, but we can’t depend only on Meteor. This capability on Rafale has to be complemented with similar capability on our other platforms…The indigenous Astra missile is required on Sukhoi-30s, MiG-29s and the light combat aircraft,” he said.
Developed by the DRDO, the Astra BVR air-to-air missile has a range of more than 100 km. User trials of the missile have been completed and the IAF is expected to place orders soon. The missile is expected to be the standard long-range weapons across the air force’s fighter fleet.
Air Power in Sub-conventional Conflicts
The air chief said the decision to use air power in a sub-conventional scenario was a paradigm shift. It was a clear message to Pakistan that terrorist attacks on Indian soil were unacceptable and would draw a military response.
He said that Balakot air strike showed there exists a space below the conventional conflict boundaries, where IAF can be utilised for targeting, yet have controlled escalation.Air chief, Fali Major had proposed aerial strikes against terror pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks but the government did not take that route.
Bhadauria said the use of air power was considered taboo in sub-conventional conflict until the government took the “tough and bold call” to strike at the very heart of terrorist training infrastructure located deep across the Line of Control (LoC). “It [the Balakot operation] was a very clear demonstration that there exists a space below the conventional [war] boundary wherein IAF can be utilised for targeting and yet have escalation control.”
Bhadauria said: “We have instituted measures covering the entire spectrum of induction of new capability, operational training and tactics, which will further enhance the Indian Air Force’s operational capability to undertake any such mission at short notice.”
Defence Minister’s Take
Defence minister Rajnath Singh said India’s “out-of-the-box response” forced the rewriting of many doctrines across the LoC and an adversary would think a hundred times before any future misadventures. He said the surgical strike of 2016 and Balakot air strikes were not just military strikes but a strong message to Pakistan that terror infrastructure across the border cannot be used as a safe haven to wage low-cost war against India.
“Our approach to terrorism was and will remain a judicious combination of clinical military action and mature and responsible diplomatic outreach,” he said.
“We have recently seen the impact of collective diplomatic and financial pressure on Pakistan. Terrorists like Hafiz Saeed who were treated like VIPs and heroes, have been put behind bars. We realise that this is not enough and unless Pakistan is made accountable, it will continue with its previous policy of duplicity and deceit. All attempts are being made to work in this direction,”Rajnath said.
CDS on Balakot Strike
Chief of Defence Staff, General Bipin Rawat said it was important for the military to have credible deterrence to execute the tasks assigned to it. “Credible deterrence comes from the will of the military leadership and intent of the political class while taking tough decisions. This was amply shown after Kargil, Uri and Pulwama.”
Rawat said the Indian armed forces should stay prepared to get “launched again and again” should acts of terrorism be perpetrated on Indian soil.”If the defence forces have to be prepared to execute the roles and tasks assigned to them, it is important we maintain credible deterrence at all times… on land, at sea and in the air. The capabilities of the three services must run concurrently so that together they become a force to reckon with,” he added.
Former Air Chief Dhanoa
Former IAF chief BS Dhanoa, too, described the attack as a paradigm shift in Indian military operations. “The other side never believed that we could carry out an [air] strike inside Pakistan to take out a terror training camp that we successfully carried out,” he said on Wednesday. “After Balakot air strike, there was no major terrorist attack throughout the Indian elections because they were scared that we will respond again in the same manner or even more devastatingly.”
Army Chief on Naravane
At a media interaction on January 3, army chief General MM Naravane stated that the cross-border surgical strikes’ in 2016 and Balakot had called Pakistan’s nuclear bluff.
Gen Naravane said the strikes had shown the fact that terrorist camps, infrastructure and launch pads all can be taken down and that you cannot operate with impunity’. This statement prompted a response from Pakistan’s nuclear establishment.
At a February 3 seminar at the London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies on February 3, Lt General Khalid Kidwai (retired), a former head and now an adviser to Pakistan’s Strategic Plans Division and one of the most influential voices in the strategic establishment, issued a note of caution. Indian authorities, he said, were drawing dangerously wrong conclusions about what they are referring to as Pakistan’s nuclear bluff.’
Comments
On the first anniversary of the Pulwama terrorist attack, the question is how does the road ahead look with regard to India-Pakistan relations. As far as India is concerned, the onus remains on Pakistan to recognise the danger that terrorism poses to stability.
The question that arises is first, whether the objectives of the attack were met? And if yes, can or should it be done again? As in all military operations, actual objectives operate at many levels. The official stated objective was ‘self-defence’, given that terrorists at the facility were planning further attacks on India. The unstated one was sending a message both to a domestic audience and to the world at large, and Pakistan, in particular.
What mattered, and which Pakistan realised instantly, was that a Rubicon had been crossed as India shook free of its self-imposed ‘restraint’ despite the nuclear overhang. That has changed the situation for good. The desperation of the Pakistani establishment was more than apparent, as its Prime Minister used any and every podium to warn of nuclear war. The fact that no one paid much attention only worsened Islamabad’s desperation.
But infiltration continues to rise, though terror attacks have reduced. Balakot did not stop terrorism in its entirety, but then it was never expected to. The objective was to raise the issue to a new level. Today, Pakistan is under a severe threat due to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) questioning its every move.
Whether Delhi will choose to escalate or not next time round is the ultimate and crucial question for Rawalpindi planners.
Balakot gave the military the boost in morale that it badly needed after years of ‘restraint’. It gave the country, long tired of other Pulwamas going without retribution, a certain righteous belief in itself, and signalled to the world that Delhi was no longer going to play possum in the long battle against terrorism. A significant lowering of India’s threshold to terrorist attacks is what the aftermath of Pulwama, thus, represents in strategic terms.
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Strike and Counter-strike
Operation Bandar
The IAF’s mission to bomb the terrorist hideout in Balakot, Pakistan, was given the codename ‘Operation Bandar’. It was a rare operation in which the IAF crossed the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir and dropped bombs on targets in Pakistani territory. Balakot is a small town located in Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. On February 26, 2019, Indian Air Force’s Mirage-2000 fighter jets took off from airbases across India. The Indian Air Force jets crossed the LoC in J&K and bombed Jaish terror camps in Balakot with precision-guided missiles.
Pakistan’s Retaliation
Pakistan retaliated a day after. The Pakistan Air Force attempted an airstrike on Indian soil. The Indian Air Force launched its fighter jets in response, leading to a rare dogfight between the Indian and Pakistani jets. In the skirmish, an IAF MiG-21 Bison fighter jet shot down a Pakistani F-16 during the conflict. Indian Mig-21, which was being flown by Wg Cdr Abhinandan Varthaman, was also shot down and he was captured by the Pakistani forces. After much deliberation, Wg Cdr Abhinandan was released two days later from Pakistan’s hold. This development calmed the tensions between the two nations after two weeks of heightened conflict.
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Defence minister Rajnath Singh (3R), CDS General Bipin Rawat (3L), Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria (2R), Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh (R), Chairman of DRDO, G Satheesh Reddy (2L) and Air Marshal KK Nohwar (retd), DG, Centre for Air Power Studies, at a seminar in New Delhi on 28 February 2020.
The JeM training camp at Jabba Top, Balakot
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Pulwama-Balakot Timeline
Feb 14, 2019. Forty CRPF jawans killed in Pulwama terror attack as suicide bomber rams a car laden with explosives into a CRPF bus
Feb 19. Jaish-e-Mohammed claims responsibility
Feb 20. NIA takes over Pulwama case
Feb 26. IAF bombs Jaish base in Balakot, Pakistan
Feb 27. IAF jet shot, Pakistan captures the Indian pilot, Wg Cdr Abhinandan Varthaman
Feb 28. India gives proof of Pak aggression
March 1. Wg Cdr Abhinandan returns home after being released from captivity by Pakistan
June 26. No intelligence failure in the case of Pulwama attack, Centre tells Lok Sabha
July 3. Four of five terrorists involved in Pulwama attack killed and one arrested, Centre tells Parliament
