New Delhi: A day after the Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out aerial strikes on a Jaish e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorist camp in Balakot, the Pakistani Air Force tried to carry out a similar attack against Indian military targets but failed to do so. According to news agency report that quotes government sources, the Pakistani Air Force with its package of more than 20 planes, led by the Americn F-16s along with French Mirage-IIIs and Chinese JF-17, fired 11 H-4 1,000 kg bombs from a 50-km range inside their territory on February 27. The attack was made at military targets at three locations, but failed to hit any of them.
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Here it is to be noted that the H-4 bombs fired by the Mirage-IIIs of the Pakistan Air Force are classified as stand-off weapons which can be launched from a distance to aid in quicker evasive manoeuvres of jets that fire them. These bombs are similar to the Spice-2000 bombs used by the Indian Air Force in the Balakot strikes. A government source was quoted as “These H-4s are not very accurate and missed their targets,”. The official added that in one of the attacks on an army camp in Jammu and Kashmir, the building was protected by a huge tree which managed to deflect the Pakistani bomb.
To be noted that according to the report, senior officers were present inside the campus when the attacks took place in Poonch and adjoining areas.A Board of Officers has been formed to analyse the remains of the Pakistani bombs and other debris from the explosion. The government sources speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Pakistani jets missed the target because of the quick response of Indian jets. In haste, the H-4 bombs were let off thereby missing their intended targets.
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However, the most advanced Pakistani fighter F-16s were used for launching the air-to-air missiles against Indian fighter jets, while the Mirage IIIs were used for launching air-to-ground missiles in the attacks.It was during this aggression that Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman shot down an F-16 plane using his R-73 air-to-air missile fired from his MiG-21 plane.