[airbus]

Question why this IAF aircraft (apparently an AWACS) was available on flightradar24? I took this screenshot yesterday morning.

[shortbread]

Originally Posted by Foxbat

As per the information I got the Bisons were on Combat Air Patrol at that moment:

Combat air patrol (CAP) is a type of flying mission for fighter aircraft. A combat air patrol is an aircraft patrol provided over an objective area, over the force protected, over the critical area of a combat zone, or over an air defense area, for the purpose of intercepting and destroying hostile aircraft before they reach their target. Combat air patrols apply to both overland and overwater operations, protecting other aircraft, fixed and mobile sites on land, or ships at sea.

This is duty is rotated among various fighters like Su-30s, Mig-29s and Mig-21s since aircraft cannot be in the air 24x7.
Given that the IAF has a high number if Mig-21s still in service, its a highly likely they are on the 1st line of defence. Also perhaps the Pakistanis were aware when old Bisons were on shift and decided to attack at that time.

Thank you for the reply.

There's so much I want to say but wont as I am only an arm-chair critique.

Gut wrenching an officer is in the hands of the enemy and I pray for his safe return. Salute to the forces on the front-line.

[locusjag]

During the Kargil war, one of our pilots was murdered by a bullet wound at close range after he had parachuted down. Another pilot was headed for a lynching at the hands of an irate mob, but he was rescued by a PAF officer who then treated him politely and professionally.

I'll say nothing of the fate of Capt.Saurabh Kalia and his men who were brutally (and I mean 'brutally') tortured.

I hope our captured pilot makes it back without any trauma.

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by airbus

Question why this IAF aircraft (apparently an AWACS) was available on flightradar24? I took this screenshot yesterday morning.

Just a humble suggestion Sir. It is bad enough that this aircraft was being tracked in Flightradar - but do we have to compound it by placing it on our thread here. While we today treat sites like Googlemaps' satellite images and Flightradar as innocent everyday things they do have a conscious part to play in American/Western information dominance.

Originally Posted by shortbread

Does anyone know as to why in a critical engagement like chasing away invading enemy jets, the IAF uses the clearly dated Bisons vis a vis a more current jet in their arsenal like the Sukhoi?

Knowing fully well about the developing situation wouldn't the nations best weaponry be readied to be used in action? I apologies if the question is stupid, but my knowledge on the matter is very limited.

It would be very incorrect to assume that the Bison is ill-equipped. Amongst others the Bison carries the R-77 medium range active radar homing AAM and the R-73 infra red AAM and I believe helmet mounted sights. And we do not know the combat circumstances in which the pilot was shot. Dozens of CAP sorties are routinely flown in a day across the Pak & Sino border.

[airbus]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Just a humble suggestion Sir. It is bad enough that this aircraft was being tracked in Flightradar - but do we have to compound it by placing it on our thread here. While we today treat sites like Googlemaps' satellite images and Flightradar as innocent everyday things they do have a conscious part to play in American/Western information dominance.

Sir, this is not current data, as I mentioned I saw it yesterday morning. Secondly, it was already on social media yesterday morning itself. After that tracking seems to be disabled.

[sbanerjee]

Originally Posted by airbus

Question why this IAF aircraft (apparently an AWACS) was available on flightradar24? I took this screenshot yesterday morning.

Any aircraft that keeps its ADS-B transponder turned on will be visible in flight radar.

[KMT]

The MiG 21 is from the late '60s. We must be one of the only countries flying this almost 60 year old design.

In carspeak, it is like updating a 1960s Lada (or Amby) to become "modern" and upto date in 2019. There is only so much lipstick one can apply.

It also reflects the years of under investment in defense equipment and the underperformance of governmental defence devlopment bodies like HAL and DRDO etc.

Really gutwrenching to see an Airforce officer being manhandled like that, we owe these guys better equipment.

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by airbus

Sir, this is not current data, as I mentioned I saw it yesterday morning. Secondly, it was already on social media yesterday morning itself. After that tracking seems to be disabled.

Publicly available information:
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/comme...ml#post4551068 (FlightRadar24 - Live Flight Tracker. My experience as a host)

[locusjag]

Originally Posted by locusjag

Another pilot was headed for a lynching at the hands of an irate mob, but he was rescued by a PAF officer who then treated him politely and professionally.

I hope our captured pilot makes it back without any trauma.

I found a video on FB where our pilot is cordially interrogated as he sips tea!
https://www.facebook.com/803434252/p...7058959229253/

If this is 100% authentic, then I'll be super glad that he is safe.

[srishiva]

Originally Posted by srishiva

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/indi...home-topscroll

Unmanned and manned aircraft working together.
HAL is developing this along with a startup. Just wondering if its too much for the pilot to handle the unmanned drones accompanying his aircraft and trying to feed commands to them. Cant be part of dogfight I guess.

Quoting myself. There seems to be similar ones being built around

https://www.engadget.com/2019/02/27/...hter-jet-2020/

[itwasntme]

Loads of C17, AN32 & IL76 aircraft over north India. Must be a lot of fighters too.

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by locusjag

I found a video on FB where our pilot is cordially interrogated as he sips tea!
If this is 100% authentic, then I'll be super glad that he is safe.

It could be authentic for just those 2 minutes. But we don't know when it was filmed and what all has happened with him in the hours since then. The last time an IAF pilot bailed out over Pak territory - Flight Lieut Nachiket in 1999 he was first almost lynched by one set of Pak soldiers, then brutally beaten up by another set and only after that rescued by a Pak officer and put in a cell. Of course most of us know of the brutal torture inflicted on Capt Kalia { https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saurabh_Kalia }

[Mukund]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

It would be very incorrect to assume that the Bison is ill-equipped. Amongst others the Bison carries the R-77 medium range active radar homing AAM and the R-73 infra red AAM and I believe helmet mounted sights. And we do not know the combat circumstances in which the pilot was shot. Dozens of CAP sorties are routinely flown in a day across the Pak & Sino border.

More details on this emerge.

The Pakistani Air Force strike package included eight F-16s, four Mirage-3 aircraft, four Chinese made JF-17 "Thunder" fighter.
Other aircraft in the formation were escort fighters to protect the Pakistan strike formation from any IAF retaliation. The large Pakistani attack formation was detected at 9.45 am, when they came within 10 km of the Line of Control.
A small number of these fighters then proceeded to cross the Line of Control, when they were intercepted by eight IAF jets, which included four Sukhoi 30s, two upgraded Mirage 2000s and two MiG 21 Bisons.
The Air Force fighters gave chase to the Pakistani jets on their return leg after they had dropped a handful of laser-guided bombs that narrowly missed their military targets along the Line of Control.
Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was in hot pursuit of a Pakistani F-16, which his radar had locked onto.
Despite being warned by other aircraft in the formation about the presence of Pakistani fighters, he pushed home his attack and fired an R-73 air-to-air missile.
At this stage of the air-to-air encounter, the pilot's wingman was also exposed and vulnerable.
Two missiles were fired by Pakistani F-16s. One of them, an AMRAAM (Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile) struck his aircraft, while another missed his wingman.

Source.

[V.Narayan]

IAF pilot in Pak custody likely to be released tomorrow

https://www.indiatoday.in/india/stor...201-2019-02-28

[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by Mukund

Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was in hot pursuit of a Pakistani F-16, which his radar had locked onto.
Despite being warned by other aircraft in the formation about the presence of Pakistani fighters, he pushed home his attack and fired an R-73 air-to-air missile.

The above highlighted lines are a bit confusing, if his radar had locked onto the PAF aircraft he should have fired a long range R-77 radar guided missile (which Mig-21 Bisons can carry, not sure if it was at the time). The R-73 is a self guided Infrared Homing missile and the firing aircraft can turn around after launching it.



Regarding the mystery about the F-16 claimed to be shot down I personally believe its true for one simple fact: Pakistan claimed to have two IAFs pilots in custody, one in good health and one injured one getting treated in a hospital. Later they changed it to only one when they realised that they had claimed their own pilot shot down as an Indian! Its impossible for them to make such a claim and then back track without a very compelling reason.