New Delhi: A year after Pakistan outgunned and outnumbered the Indian Air Force on 27 February through “Ops Swift Retort”, not much has changed on the ground.
Pakistan was armed with better fighter planes, Beyond Visual Range air-to-air missiles like AMRAAMs and backed by state-of-the-art SAAB airborne warning and control systems (AWACS), and left the Indian Air Force wanting in many places.
From limitations of the Su 30 MKI radar to pick up enemy fighters properly to the technical issue faced by the Mirage 2000 aircraft over firing their Mica air-to-air missile, the list of the shortcomings that the IAF experienced is long.
If Pakistan were to repeat the “Swift Retort” today, the situation doesn’t look great even a year later.
There is, however, a silver lining — the Rafale fighter jets, to be equipped with better weapons package, especially the Meteor air-to-air missile that tilts the scales in India’s favour against both Pakistan and China, will start arriving May onwards.
Also read: Inside story of attack on Balakot — from IAF officer who planned and executed it
Neither Pakistan nor China at present has a missile to counter the Meteor, which has a range of nearly 150 km — it’s much higher than the American AMRAAM that had outgunned the Sukhois with a range of over 70 km.
This means that a Rafale would be able to take out an enemy aircraft 150 km away in air without even having to cross the Indian air space.
But it will take at least a year for the first four Rafales to be completely operationalised with their weapons system.
Also, the much-needed Software Defined Radios (SDR) have finally been ordered from Israel which will help secure communication without fear of jamming.
Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was shot down after he failed to hear command to retreat given by the ground-based command centre because of jamming carried out by the Pakistan Air Force.
India is also in the process of clearing the acquisition of two more PHALCON AWACS, which will help the IAF have round-the-clock eye in the sky.
The lack of more AWACS was felt during the 27 February aerial dual when Pakistan, which operates about 10 such systems, took advantage of the changeover of the IAF’s eye in the sky.
The only actual change that has taken place on the ground is that the MiG 29 has been replaced with the Su 30 MKI as the additional fighter at the Srinagar base that houses the 51 Squadron of the MiG 21 Bisons.
However, plans to permanently base the Su 30 MKI cannot be implemented immediately because the hangars in Srinagar can’t accommodate the giant Russian fighters, defence sources told ThePrint.
This means that the Sukhois will have to fly in from other bases in case of yet another skirmish.
Also read: Wing Commander Abhinandan being shot down is the real Rafale scandal
How Pakistan retaliated for Balakot
Around 8:45 am on 27 February, the first signs of a possible attack emerged as Pakistan shut down its civilian airspace and stopped all commercial flights.
About half-an-hour later, multiple Pakistan fighter jets, perfectly timed with the changeover of IAF AWACS, started taking off from different bases.
At that particular moment, only two Su 30 MKI in the south of the Pir Panjal and two upgraded Mirage 2000, north of the mountains, were doing the Combat Air Patrol (CAP).
The Pakistani package of 25 fighters, including the F 16s and the Mirages, made their way towards the LoC but did not cross the mutually agreed 10 km cut-off point for fighters.
A few Pakistani fighters took off in the direction of the international border with Rajasthan in a bid to trick India, just like India had done the previous day.
Leading the Pakistan strike package was the F-16s armed with the AMRAAMs.
The American-built fighters moved towards the south of the Pir Panjal while the Mirages moved towards where the other two Indian fighters were flying.
Also read: Pakistani military plane that crashed was used for surveillance after Balakot strikes
What went wrong
Sources said the Indian fighters were simply outnumbered.
The Sukhois with their R-77 missiles, which have a range that’s shorter than the AMRAAMs, were no match for the F-16s that had better air-to-air weapons.
Sources said one Sukhoi was fired upon by the F-16s and had to take high-speed maneouvres to outgun the AMRAAMs.
The second Sukhoi too took tactical action keeping in mind that they were told by the Barnala-based Integrated Air Command and Control System (IACCS) that AMRAAMs were being fired.
The second Sukhoi had also failed to properly pick up the enemy fighters through its radars.
On the northern side of the Pir Panjal, the upgraded Mirages on CAP duty were outnumbered completely. They had also faced a technical glitch because of which they could not engage Pakistan Air Force (PAF) with the MICA air-to-air missiles that have a better range than the ones used by PAF in that sector.
Panicked PAF pilots break into Punjabi
Realising that the Indian fighters were outgunned and outnumbered, the Barnala-based IACCS ordered the scrambling of six MiG-21s.
Since the MiGs climbed in the shadow of the Pir Panjal range, Pakistan’s AWAC failed to detect them. The sudden appearance of the MiGs proved to be a blessing for India, as the Pakistani fighters were taken aback.
Panicked Pakistani pilots, who broke into Punjabi rather than sticking to the military codes, fired about 11 H-4 glide-bombs, weighing 1,000 kg each, at Indian military installations, none of which hit the target.
The MiG pilots were then asked to “go hot”, meaning they had to go in for a missile lock on enemy aircraft. But the MiGs soon came within the firing range of the F-16s, and they were asked to “turn cold”, meaning they were to retreat.
However, Wing Commander Varthaman, who had gone too close to the LoC, could not hear the command as Pakistan had jammed radio frequencies.
In his pursuit of locking on to a Pakistani fighter, Varthaman crossed the LoC and was within the firing range of Pakistani fighters.
Also read: ‘Make chai, not war’ – Imran Khan’s message that almost won him the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize
Its a good article and quite correct in bringing out most of the events and their flow.
There is no mention of shot down F-16.
Is the article given to you by Pakistan.
You are eating Indian salt and representing Pakis. Shame on you fellows.
Vardhaman really enjoyed his tea after shooting F-16.
IT IS HIGH TIME TO INCREASE THE CAPABILITY OF OUR AIR FORCE. WE CAN’T EXCEPT THEM TO TAKE ON THE CHALLENGES OF SMART AIR FORCE MACHINERIES WITH ALMOST OUT DATED ONE .HOWEVER SPECIÀL APPRECIATION TO OUR INDIAN AIR FORCE FOR FIGHTING AGAINST SOPHISTICATED AIR FORCE AND DEFEAT OUR ENEMIES WITH OUT DATED ONE .THIS HAPPENED IN 1965 AND 1971 INDO PAK WARS ALSO. JUST IMAGINE WHAT WOULD BE FATE OF PAKISTAN IF OUR DEFENCE FORCES GET MOST SOPHISTICATED WAR MACHINERIES ? THAT COULD BE THE REASON FOR THIS PUBLICATION .
bruh do you mean what is a sukhoi 30 mki?….go search in Google bruh don’t comment without proper research….also check global fire power rankings
That’s what happens to any country, when you don’t have your own indigenously developed infrastructure/intelligently built weapons or other types of sophisticated vehicles, let it be land, water and air based.
We heavily depend on foreign technologies from a paper clip to a rocket part, then what do you expect from any defense system relying heavily on foreign infrastructure. Do you think they will help you out with their latest and top of the line products. They are all piece of junks, not want to scrap and make profits by selling to the dumb nations world wide. And these junkies feel high and contest against each other and bring pride to their respective lands high in patriotism due to some kind of fanaticism present overwhelming everywhere.
Think about the international (global) competitors, compete with each other in the name of arms race, outperforming each other as the world’s best managers or chief executive officer’s to sell those substandard products selling to the dumb nations and to increase the hype on those unreliable pieces of junk.
Think this way, how many of those products , do the international arms race dealers buy, sell and distribute the products amongst themselves. Like how many products do USA sells to Russia, Europe Union, UK, Australia, etc., also vice versa. In that range how many were sold or bought from a under developed, developing and developed countries like India and it’s sub continent neighbours.
Then how do you think, they all will sell you their top of the line products or can you race with them to procure in thousands of their respective arms to compete with their own respective machines.
Then why day in and day out brag or boast about you are becoming or already joined the rank and file of the stature of super power.
All these illusions are due to high consumption of weed, narcotics, opiates, alcoholism etc.,
Also particularly if one is grown to the international level by hook or crook, like working in their industry with a minimal roles to play, feels and entertain the masses, they are capable of taking their respective land(s) to the heights of so called super power(s) and can dictate the world in that position. Actually, they were not in a position even to make a tissue paper or a baby’s diaper to compete in an international (global) markets and fetch forex reserves to their economy.
Even in a recent visit of another chief executive officer of marketing degree from Harvard business school to India, stayed in a President’s suite in Hotel Maurya Chanukya in New Delhi, showed how the suite looks like, observed that there are no tissue paper rolls, next to the pot hole(s).
That’s the thinking and standards they compete with in terms of globalisation (international) standards, though it is a negligible thing for the local customers, think about global customers, it is a part of their standard of living.
Well said.
Fortunately enough, we seem to have woken up and are trying to make some progress towards self sufficiency in Defense technologies.
It may also be noted that defense technologies are the key to development. As time passes, many of the innovation in DefTech start getting used for civilians and thus benefit the larger society.
The Print, what spit shower you got. Will you drown along with your Shekhars and other sleepers cell jobs. Shamelessness will keep you afloat, I am sure
Finally found the lines that rhymes with –
The TEA is FANTASTIC, sir.
The PRINT is PSYCHOTIC, sir.
The IAF is FUTURISTIC, sir.
Presstitutes. No wonder some one named this tribe.
Yeah, that’s a fake ass report. Can’t expect much from the print.
You write like this when your mother takes money and your father takes alcohol to convert.
Your name confused between original and converted but we have no confusion on your leftism.
Alex Philip is the author of this Anti-Indian article, the handy work of Christian missionary in India funded by Vatican…keep writing these kinds of shit stories….people like you make us more patriotic. You are a shame & should lick the boots of the great Abhinandan Vardhaman.
I am an Indian and I completely support the prints view on this one. Pakis screwed us bad in this occasion. We even lost our own forces due to friendly fire.
Anyways, we should always be ready to accept our shortcomings and work on them so that there is never a next time.
Rubbish, totally garbage reporting by the print.
So indians doesn’t want to hear the truth … try once in ur miserable life be a human and face the truth otherwise arrogance will doom you …. as u were doomed by mughals and Britishers for 1000 years …. it is good time to make india great again by changing india or changing urself
If this is indeed true then high time our top bosses in government and defence tighten their belts and focus on modernization. It’s true that Congress rule has destroyed our defence capabilities. They were just busy modernizing their flats.. However I am quite surprised how they got hands on such classified information
I get confused when someone saya PRINT is against BJP …the way this article is published shows that PRINT is just against India …not any party …??
Is this a Indian news agency or isi funded media house. IAF bad the whole country celebration and the print have it’s own toxic version. Shame on you the print. Unsubscribe bye
THE PAKISTANI PRINT ! RIGHT ?
We want to fight a war with Pak emotionally………without understanding the reality on ground. Pakistan night have a smaller defence budget but remember it is not burdened by the beuraucracy like India which keeps on delaying things. It is a stupid to consider any neemt as weak.
We are short of AWACs and PAF which was caught unaware during Balakot is now on its toes. We need atleast 72 Rafael’s immediately 36 each for China and Pakistan.
Can anyone suggest me how to ban “the print, the wire, alt news,NDTV news,scroll.in,Mumbai mirror ” kind of e news agencies in my google news feed??
Indians don’t want to listen to reality. IAF was outnumbered and outgunned for sure. We believe in cold rheotoric and close eyes to reality. Till date we have no match for F 16s our MIGs keep crashing on monthly basis. Russian technology is inferior to American tech. F 16s will continue to be headache for India till we have 2 proper squadrons of Rafael.
Why pakistan hates us
We can be good friends
They don’t. It’s deep agent like masood (yes, he seems like indian agent) who play politics of hate. He may have a child here in India. That’s how deep agents work.
Though many indians genuinely hate Pakistani.
The reporter’s dads (yeah I meant DADS) must be from Porkistan to say that IAF was outnumbered by d sleeping paf ???
I just want to say The Print that before giving the biased information and news just remember one thing, ur cowardice propaganda cannot make my IAF’s image blur. I strongly oppose ur propaganda.
This is a used toilet paper.
Show This article in parliament and get 272 Rafale sanctioned, which is by the way need of the hour.
Apart from that this article contains every details not told by IAF. And I will believe a senior rank officer to the print article.
This article comes from propaganda Pak media, who lost w PAF pilots, 1 F16, PAF self image, and we lost our bison but earned two more skulls on Abhinandan s helmet
Sach BATA author, Tu mehsus Kar Gaya na, ek aur thappar
12th paragraph, I think it should have been ‘Aerial Duel’ instead of ‘Aerial Dual.’
Do correct me if I am wrong!
Shame on you on publishing it in this way
Exactly. This publisher probably thinks buying weapons is unlike buying samosas.
Exactly, why don’t you finish by saying Abhinandan shit down a Pakistani F-16, which was not supposed to be used against India, as per the agreement with Americans. Pakistani’s didn’t even had the guts to accept this. Shame on them.
Even with limited resources, IAF handled this Challenge exceptionally well. Not like PAF which failed to protect its own Airspace from Intruding Indian fighters.
It’s a very informative article. Keep burying your head in the sand. It’s a well known fact that we have lost our air advantage that we had when we defeated Pak in Kargil. We need to admit that first and change it ASAP.
Why shame? It is vital that we don’t fool ourselves. We were clearly outgunned and outmaouvered by PAF. We were in such disarray that we shot or own helicopter down. Of course our pilots were brave and skilled. That’s why we got away with so few losses against the Pakistani forces with far superior weapons. The simple fact is that the Pakistani response post Balakot firmly laid to rest the myth of India’s superiority in conventional warfare. Let’s face it, our Navy with its dud scorpene subs is inferior to the Pakistani Navy. Our Airforce is pathetically ill equipped compared to Pakistan and it is doubtful if the situation in our army is any better. By the way the T80 tanks with Pakistan are considered to be superior to our T90s. As things stand today Pakistan can outgun us in both conventional and nuclear warfare. The blame this situation lies squarely on successive greedy, corrupt and incompetent Congress Govts starting with Rajiv Gandhi who was the Most corrupt and incompetent PM India ever had. It only the size of our economy and the bravery of our men at arms that has saved the day for India in the recent past. We cannot hope this alone will save us in future.
The print= the porkis
Plz look at the difference between annual defense budget between the 2 countries. Iaf is feared of those junk so called jf17 ???
They all are talking about the capebility of f16.
But the f16 has been shot down by a mig 21 a 3rd generation aircraft. So plz don’t talk this bullshit @the print. Ur rubbish story is good for this porkis
Haha day dreaming, u guyz just like chiwala..
When u asked him where is the pics any evidence so he say
Loo kerlo baat ab ya hum say evidence mangtatay hain Haha
Kindly stop supplying highly subsidized alcohol to our Defence Forces and Para Military forces through Highly Subsidized Defence Canteens and Rank based Quota system. This rum, whisky, gin, brandy monthly subsidized quota has ruined the skills, capabilities and performance of our Army, Navy and Air Force. Why nobody in Services is taking about the utter failure of IPKF Forces against a small bunch of guerilla LTTE fighters of Sri Lanka ? Again, alcohol was the root cause of failure . Kargil War was only a BOFORS GUN firing war, with more shells falling on OCCUPIED Pakistan side .
The British Raj were the first to introduce LIQUOR SUPPLY to Indian Armymen, to tame and control them. This habit has ruined our forces. Our Father of the Nation was totally against ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION . Indian Defence will improve only when LIQUOR is totally BANNED in INDIAN ARMY, NAVY and AIRFORCE and all PARA MILITARY FORCES .
First you civilians try to improve yourself.
The Indian armed forces are working perfectly.
You are safe at your home and writing all this .
Many of our soldiers sitting at the borders are not having the comfortable Life that you are having
When u have limited knowledge stop blabbering
When you have limited knowledge stop blabbering. Do you even know how it is to serve in minus 50 degrees or face enemy bullets. It is because of people like you that Indian Armed forces are seen in bad light.
A proud veteran like me does not need your Advice. Shut Up
Can you imagine yourself in mountains without liquor above 3000 mtrs sea level. Stop rubbish. Join your son in Military and talk.
Pakistani ISI spotted !!
Print is Leftist media supporting Pakistan. In India leftist media like Rndtv, print, quint, the wire always support the anti India or pro Pakistan/ pro Muslim propaganda as after independence the Jinnah’s lobby turn into leftist with their hidden anti India agenda.
Nonsense! In fact, only NDTV, Print, Quint etc are the only credible news channels in India Today. Rest are all completely sold out channels involved in Governmental/ruling party propoganda. Either they have a been sold out or bullied into submission.
Writer on weed… Dumb article.
You lucky, he built IAF through Mig 21 in the later part of the article. Otherwise you would be more upset.
Even the part on Meteor capabilities and its range is overstated. To say Pakistan and China has nothing of that range is wrong.
Why PL 15 is not mentioned!! Not to say the development of PL 21.
Fact is China and Pakistan already have access to missiles which could potentially hit targets over 300 km.
I agree that writer was on weed. How PAF would be scared from Mig 21 when they had run the mighty SU 30s ragged!!
Don’t you forget IAF has officially awarded its pilots medal for successfully avoiding AMRAMs.
Secondly, the capabilities of denial of communication, radar and avionics denial etc to IAF were way superior to the Indians.
They had full mastery of the skies on 27th Feb 2019. The entered the theatre with confidence, in broad day light with all guns blazing and leave the theatre with two IAF jets and a heli down. Live with it.
And if you guys still believe in downing of F 16, which even this writer shied away from mentioning, than you are seriously deluded.
What a BS article, outgunned and nothing changed? Bro u r missing ASTRA with Su30.
Hey Hey everyone has sung so many praises for the writer that there’s nothing to add.. haha.. I hope RAW and IB take note of this intellectual
The tea is fantastic
With F16
IAF was outgunned ??? Really !!! You people don’t have the right to insult our armed forces. Posting & writing anything for money. Your Reporter must be high on weed before presenting such reports. Also No information on F-16 which downed by our brave Abhinandan ji. Shame on you !!!
Truth hurts
You are such a disgrace to our nation ‘The Print’. Media’s work is to deliver true news, but the understatement is to keeping the harmony in the society. First of all, ‘your sources’ AREN’T reliable. They themselves lack proper information of some matters. Secondly, what do you wish to achieve with this false article? Making our own people look down upon our armed forces? They are the PRIDE of our great nation. WE ALL OUR PROUD OF OUR ARMED FORCES. Everything they’ve done for this nation is priceless. Risking your life for your motherland isn’t a joke. Don’t spread hate. And yes, RESPECT OUR ARMED FORCES who are giving off their luxurious lives for you. It’s easy for you to just sit in your AC room and spread hate, against our real heroes. Think twice.
Dear Alex Philip, pls Print whatever you wish but not fake headlines!
Who the hell researched this… Change your profession….
The Print is the total opposite to Republic TV.
This is a concerning report, given it’s revelations. I had never known about such numerous IAF failures on that day. But still I have to ask how do you know all such operational matters are the actual fact? The people of India have all along been told that IAF Sukhois are far superior to PAF F-16s but this report exposes the lies in such claims. The Mirage Mica missile failures on not one but all the aircrafts is disastrous. They show the lack of combat readiness of the IAF. One can only conclude that the IAF lacks anything to mount a credible defense against either PAF or Chinese air attacks. I also find it perplexing that Indian ground to air missiles never responded to the presence of PAF jets on the LoC. Despite claims that the Sukhois carry Brahmos hypersonic cruise missiles with 300km range, even these weren’t used. Under what circumstances will such equipment ever be used? I think Indians are lucky that it’s neighbours are not hostile enough towards them, or else hundreds of millions will perish if neighboring militaries mounted serious offensive action.
After defeating Pakistan for three times we Indians are still feared of them. Hahaha I can’t even control my laughing. So much to say about F16 ( which Pak can’t use in offensive roles ) and JF 16 ( a 3rd generation fighter jet ). ??
Really , we should be thankful that our neighbors are not hostile , never read any international news or were born yesterday
Very dispassionate account and underscores the fact that we need to be less jingoistic,build capacities, order two more Rafale squadrons and acquire half a dozen AEW’s
Just a rabbish report by an idiot
From all the western media and intelligence reports, Pakistanis had an upper hand. They lost no aircraft and certainly didn’t panic. Who is more likely to panic, an airforce with adequate experience in aerial combat during War on Terror on America’s side for over a decade, or our airforce that has never had a “hot pursuit” situation with an adversary since Kargil? Even then, Pakistan shot down our pilot and we had to lobby to get him back.
We live in a fantasy world created by our hyperbhakta media and infinitely confident military brass seeking political slots.
Reality is very different. You don’t win a battle with a pliant military, huffin-puffin ready-in-three-hours army of khaki chaddi, and a mindless, almost cannibal vote bank.
You win wars with the backing from the entire nation.
Nacchoooo
Perfect retort.
Perfect retort by closing your airspace, loosing f16
Your name TA, as well as your contents, raises doubt about your nationality,
People like you are dumb, Pakistan lost f16 this is a fact with two pilots ejecting. Didn’t panic, do you even they closed their airspace
from western media …?..u r done there only ….
Have u or ur Father ever experienced life of a soldier? Then Shut ur mouth and stop vomiting. Guts hai toh aaja.. Dikhate hai combat skills.. The more u sweat in peace, the less you bleed in War. U win War by killing and not sacrificing ur life. India is the 3rd biggest Military force in the world. In all combined drills, the capacity of an Indian soldier to survive the toughest conditions and hit enemy is unparallel. Machines are important but the man behind the machine is more important. So shut ur gutter and this print needs a good litigation in the court to stop publishing such deceiving and stupid articles. Get ready, I take strong objection to this article and I m filing a petition to shut ur shop.
Print on its original role of being paki mouthpiece again…
Iaf was outgunned and outnumbered? What kind of clickbait bs is this? Iaf has 600 fighter jets, Paf has 400. Iaf has 200+ sukhois (4.5g) while Paf has some odd 100 jf-17 (4g). Compared just these as these are the most abundant on each side. PS not to mention the fact that the American F-16s are kept in leash by America, especially after last year’s incidents, where, mind you, Iaf’s pilot was returned to India within 72 hours of capture, and had they not done so, India would without a shred of worry been able to climb the escalation ladder, which pak wouldn’t have been able to sustain for a month. Amazed by the journalism here.
So, let’s look at it this way:
What type of fighters makes that numerical advantage? What is the size of the theater of war and positioning of units?
If it’s old twin blade mostly does the size matter? If they are half way across the land and the enemy is attacking the other side of the border does that combined superiority matter?
Also, I think the key here is temporary advantage.
If India has more fighters but are spread thin and the distance is such that Pakistan can send a big number to one point before other bases in India can get there then your numbers will mean nothing for that window period.
It’s clear here, Pakistan exploited Intel, ambush, temporary numerical advantage plus technological advantage.
India could have better planes but if they were far from the point of action at the right time then that means nothing.
This piece is a real example and an arrow which points towards the source of The Print funding both ideological and economical.
At one part of the story it mentioned
Sources said the Indian fighters were simply outnumbered
what sources? And the source reside inside the boundaries of which nation?
So much for a counter attack. All they did was panic and return
Yeah bcz Pakistan is Ur country
Thank God. Not the nonsensical claim of Shooting down a Pakistani F-16 this time.
Yeah bcz Pakistan is Ur country
It is a not a non-sensical claim but a fact, AWACs image always proves it circumstantially , also who was the doosra banda as your ghafoora talked about.
The print is partial, Where were PAF when IAF jammed Paki radar and gone deep inside Paki’s occupied Kashmir . And when PAF attack then why pak H-4 glide-bomb missed all targets and how IAF Jammed all AMMRAM missiles which failed , you know very well F-16 were outdated in technology where anti-radition and defense system are more powerful in India.