The historic win of India in Kargil is celebrated as Kargil Vijay Diwas on July 26. Undoubtedly, the courage, planning, and determination of the Indian soldiers and the Indian Army as a whole was the main reason why it became possible.
But just as manpower, the war also needs good support of arms and ammunition. And with technology also making big breakthroughs in this sector, the more updated your resources, the more chances are there of your win.
And in Kargil War too, the deployment of Mirage 2000 proved to be a game changer. Senior IAF officers said that the use of these aircraft helped turn the tide of the war in favour of India.
Reportedly, the Mirage 2000 aircraft played a decisive role when the battle between Pakistan and India was fought in high altitudes of snowcapped mountains for around three months.
Mirage 2000 forced adversaries to change tactics
The aircraft aimed the enemy bunkers at the Tiger Hill apart from helping the Indian Army emerge successful at Muntho Dhalo in June 1999. In today’s times when wars are fought more with the help of technology, it was a very big decision.
The senior IAF officers opined that the technology used by India during the Kargil war was superior to the adversary and Mirage 2000 was much better than the F-16 used by Pakistan at that time.
Rather, the officers said that Pakistan was ill-equipped to fight India as it was using Stinger, a Man-Portable Air-Defense System (MANPADS) operating on infrared surface-to-air missiles.
On the other hand, Mirage 2000 carried LGB (laser-guided bombs) that gave the Indians an upper hand and as a result, the adversaries were forced to change their tactics at the last minute which backfired.
Importantly, the Indian Air Force only hit the targets within the LOC and never crossed them.
Mirage 2000 was also used in Balakot air-strike
The same aircraft was used during the Balakot air strike in February after the Pulwama attack that killed 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
It is a French, single-engine, multi-role fighter jet that can drop a range of bombs and missiles as well as laser-guided missiles.