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Strategies & Market Trends : India Coffee House -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mohan Marette who wrote (4406)	5/30/1999 5:22:00 PM
From: Mohan Marette	Respond to of 12475

Mirage 2000 on call. bharat-rakshak.com IAF presses Mirage 2000 into action Srinagar, May 30 (Shishir Gupta) The Indian Air Force (IAF) today stepped up its campaign against the Pakistan-backed intruders in the Kargil sector by inducting top of the line Mirage-2000 fighters in Operation Vijay. With this, the IAF has acquired round-the-clock capability in this theatre as this state-of-the-art aircraft gives the Indian forces the option of conducting anti-intruder operations in the night. The French-made Mirage-2000 is equipped with sophisticated electronic warfare systems, which can be used to jam enemy's air defence batteries. The plane is capable of carrying cluster bombs, air to ground missiles, retarder bombs and precision guided fire and forget ammunition. The intensified Indian air campaign began at the crack of dawn with interceptors, ground attack and deep penetration strike aircraft taking to the skies from air bases in Jammu and Kashmir. The Mirage-2000 led the air strikes this morning with a wave (two aircraft) targeting intruder held positions in Drass-Kargil-Batalik axis. Wave after wave, interceptors such as the MiG-21 and deep penetration strike aircraft such as the MiG-27 followed the Mirage-2000 fighters and pounded the enemy positions with missiles, rockets, and bunker buster bombs. The intruders were given no respite as the air campaign continued till late afternoon. The strikes are being carried out four-to-five kilometres inside the Indian Line of Control. Although additional troops, artillery, ammunition and supplies are constantly being inducted into the Kargil theatre, the IAF is all set to play a pivotal role in neutralising these intruders. The IAF is understood to have notched up significant kills in Operation Vijay and the Pak-engineered intruders are said to be on the run in the Drass and Muskoh Valley areas. This is evident from the fact that an unspecified number of intruders, who penetrated into Drass and Muskoh valley areas, have escaped to Doda through the tortuous Zoji La-Shesh Nag-Doda route after being subjected to intensified aerial campaign and integrated combat support from the Indian side. The random strikes are being carried out four-to-five kilometres inside the Indian Line of Control. At the heart of the Indian air campaign lies the need to neutralise the intruders by destroying the semi-permanent structures build by them in high mountain crags at heights ranging from 14,000-17,000 feet. Aerial action forces the intruders to hide along the mountain spurs, where the crack Infantry units of the Indian Army are ready to take them on. These strikes have also been a successful in pinning the intruders to their positions. This gives precious time to the Army to get closer to the enemy positions and in the range of small arms' fire. It is seen that an aerial bombardment is immediately followed by intense artillery shelling by the Indian gun positions in this theatre in order to harass the intruders and force them to retreat. The Pakistani response comes in the form of artillery or mortar fire from its permanent defence lines across the LoC so that Indian guns ease pressure on the intruders. The intensified air campaign using versatile aircraft and lethal ammunition has served an important role in the psychological warfare with the intruders being pushed into a corner. The air campaign is getting vital support from the rocket-firing Mi-17 helicopters and Cheetah helicopters that are being used to direct the fighters on to the intruder positions. However, the helicopter squadrons in this theatre have been forced to change war tactics after an Mi-17 gunship was brought down by a heat-seeking Stinger missile fired by the intruders in Drass area. After studying the profile of the Stinger missile and the tactics adopted by the erstwhile Soviet Union forces in countering this weapon in Afghanistan, the IAF helicopter pilots changed strategy and now fly vertically above the Stinger-missile protected positions of the intruders. It seems that the weapon finds it easier to acquire a helicopter or an aircraft flying at an angle than moving horizontally. hindustantimes.com The strategy seems to have worked as helicopter kills in the anti-intruder operations have been significant with rockets playing havoc with the enemy. Even though the official word is that it would take six months to evict the intruders from these heights, it seems an effective and a powerful air operation just might bring that day a mite closer.