Windjammer
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Some years back i read in the Air Forces Monthly magazine's attrition section, a news item about an incident involving IAF Jaguar aircraft. Apparently, IAF Srinagar station commander had invited media and other personalities to witness the real potential of the Jaguar all weather fighter/ bombers by sending off a formation of four aircraft in adverse weather conditions, however to the sheer embarrassment of the IAF and dismay of all other present, none of the aircraft managed to return. It later transpired that two of the formation had crashed while the other two had diverted to another airbase. At about the same period, there were reports in Pakistani media that some IAF aircraft had violated Pakistani airspace in Kashmir sector and were fired upon by Pakistani army units based in the area. Now this is not unusual as earlier an IAF AN-32 transport aircraft, which inadvertently crossed into Pakistani airspace was hit by an Anza missile causing it to lose an engine, although the AN-32 made it back to the base but the incident caused much infighting within the IAF which was termed as ''Wings of shame''.
However, the loss of two Jaguar aircraft was somewhat controversial with IAF first claiming that the two may have collided with each other and later putting the loss due to adverse weather and although the Indian media questioned the possibility of the aircraft having crossed the LOC, which was denied by the IAF none the less, there are stories circulating that the two after inadvertently crossing over into Pakistani airspace fell victims to the ground fire.
Does any one has any more info on this.
@Oscar @Tipu7 @araz @Irfan Baloch @DESERT FIGHTER @Arsalan @Areesh
Saturday, April 3, 2004, Chandigarh, India
Updated at 3:00 am (IST)
2 Jaguars go missing near LoC
Girja Shankar Kaura
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, April 2
Two deep-penetration Jaguar fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) today went missing in bad weather over the Sonmarg valley during a training sortie near the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir.
An IAF spokesman here said the two aircraft went out of radio contact about 1 and 1.30pm in the afternoon because of bad weather conditions prevailing over Gund in the Sonmarg Valley area. They were part of a four aircraft formation which had got airborne at 12.34 pm from Srinagar.
“The four aircraft were on a training valley flying sortie during which they encountered bad weather. While two Jaguars managed to get out of the bad patch and returned to the Srinagar air base, two others got stuck in bad weather and lost radio contact with the ground,” the IAF spokesman said.
A massive search and rescue operation has been launched by the Air Force to trace the missing aircraft and the pilots. At least two helicopters have been pressed into service for the search and rescue operation but the prevailing bad weather conditions in the area were preventing the choppers from going near the near over which the aircraft lost Radio Telephony (RT) contact.
“We are not still using the connotation that the aircraft have been lost,” the officer said while not divulging the names of the two pilots who were flying the aircraft.
Asked if the warplanes could have crossed the LoC into the Pakistani side, the officer ruled this out, saying the aircraft were flying over Gund, which is about 50 km inside the LoC on the Indian side.
Besides, he pointed out that they were south bound for Ambala which would further reduce the possibility of the aircraft crossing the LoC into Pakistan territory.
The officer said the two aircraft were carrying normal fuel to give them “enough endurance” to fly back to their base at Ambala.
The spokesman also said that the IAF would not declare a “crash” till such time the wreckage was located.
He also ruled out the possibility of the aircraft which went missing being part of the security cover provided to President APJ Abdul Kalam during his visit to the Siachen sector.
However, the loss of two Jaguar aircraft was somewhat controversial with IAF first claiming that the two may have collided with each other and later putting the loss due to adverse weather and although the Indian media questioned the possibility of the aircraft having crossed the LOC, which was denied by the IAF none the less, there are stories circulating that the two after inadvertently crossing over into Pakistani airspace fell victims to the ground fire.
Does any one has any more info on this.
@Oscar @Tipu7 @araz @Irfan Baloch @DESERT FIGHTER @Arsalan @Areesh
Saturday, April 3, 2004, Chandigarh, India
Updated at 3:00 am (IST)
2 Jaguars go missing near LoC
Girja Shankar Kaura
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, April 2
Two deep-penetration Jaguar fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) today went missing in bad weather over the Sonmarg valley during a training sortie near the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir.
An IAF spokesman here said the two aircraft went out of radio contact about 1 and 1.30pm in the afternoon because of bad weather conditions prevailing over Gund in the Sonmarg Valley area. They were part of a four aircraft formation which had got airborne at 12.34 pm from Srinagar.
“The four aircraft were on a training valley flying sortie during which they encountered bad weather. While two Jaguars managed to get out of the bad patch and returned to the Srinagar air base, two others got stuck in bad weather and lost radio contact with the ground,” the IAF spokesman said.
A massive search and rescue operation has been launched by the Air Force to trace the missing aircraft and the pilots. At least two helicopters have been pressed into service for the search and rescue operation but the prevailing bad weather conditions in the area were preventing the choppers from going near the near over which the aircraft lost Radio Telephony (RT) contact.
“We are not still using the connotation that the aircraft have been lost,” the officer said while not divulging the names of the two pilots who were flying the aircraft.
Asked if the warplanes could have crossed the LoC into the Pakistani side, the officer ruled this out, saying the aircraft were flying over Gund, which is about 50 km inside the LoC on the Indian side.
Besides, he pointed out that they were south bound for Ambala which would further reduce the possibility of the aircraft crossing the LoC into Pakistan territory.
The officer said the two aircraft were carrying normal fuel to give them “enough endurance” to fly back to their base at Ambala.
The spokesman also said that the IAF would not declare a “crash” till such time the wreckage was located.
He also ruled out the possibility of the aircraft which went missing being part of the security cover provided to President APJ Abdul Kalam during his visit to the Siachen sector.
