A look at Indian Air Force's fighter jet Mirage-2000

Representational image

New Delhi: In the wee hours of Tuesday, 12 Indian Air Force Mirage-2000 fighter entered Pakistani airspace and dropped 1,000-kg laser-guided bombs on Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) camps across the Line of Control. The Mirage-2000 is the same aircraft that helped India win the Kargil war.

At 3:30 am on Tuesday, the Indian Air Force carried out multiple aerial strikes at terror launch pads in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, destroying control rooms of JeM and some other infrastructure. The French company Dassault Aviation manufactured Indian Air Force Mirage-2000 fighter jets attacked Jaish-e-Mohammed hideout in Balakot with 1,000-kg laser-guided bombs.

Despite that India has several new-age fighter jets like the Sukhoi and MiG 29, it was again the Mirage-2000 jet which has proved that it is India's most versatile and deadliest aircraft. Besides the Jaguar, the Mirage-2000 is the only other IAF plane capable of delivering nuclear bombs. It is worth Mentioning that Mirage had played a decisive role in the Kargil war, which was an armed conflict between India and Pakistan held from May to July 1999.

In 1982, India had placed an initial order of 36 single-seater Mirage-2000 and 4 twin-seater Mirage 2000. The fighter jet Mirage was first commissioned in 1985. Raising a third squadron of the aircraft, the IAF bought ten more Mirage 2000s in 2004. All of the three squadrons are based in its air force base at Gwalior. The Mirage-2000 is a single-engine delta-wing (triangle shaped) fighter jet and it can carry an impressive 14,000lbs of weapons. Earlier, the fighter jet was seen in action in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya etc.

The fighter jet Mirage-2000 has a maximum speed of Mach 2.2 and a combat range of nearly 1,000 miles. It has nine pylons on which it can carry a host of different advanced air-to-air, air-to-surface missiles and bombs, targeting pods, and external fuel tanks. "India on Tuesday carried out air strikes at a massive Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) camp in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, eliminating a large numberu00c2u009d of terrorists, including top commanders," Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said here in a press conference.

Also Read: Pakistan scrambled F16s to intercept IAF aircraft but abandoned seeing Indian formation

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