Key Points
On February 25, 2019, the Indian Air Force (IAF) base at Gwalior was abuzz with activity..
There were discussions on the operational readiness of the security forces after the February 14 terror attack on a convoy that killed 40 CRPF personnel in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir...
Around 4 pm on February 25, things became clear when Mirage 2000 fighter jets were fitted with Israeli-made Spice 2000 bombs and "fed in" with geo-coordinates of the Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camp at Balakote, Pakistan, which was hit by pilots some 12 hours later at 3.30 am on February 26...
The Balakote airstrikes and what followed on February 27 and 28 - the air battle in which IAF and Pakistan lost a plane each - showed there was a possibility of a clash outside the nuclear threat...
Director General of Centre for Air Power Studies Air Marshal Anil Chopra (retd) says, "Balakote was the first time ever in peacetime that the IAF struck targets deep inside Pakistan..
