• 4 months ago
War
Transcript
00:00In the summers of 1999, there was a fierce battle between India and Pakistan at the heights of Kargil.
00:07Kargil's war was a test of the courage, determination and indomitable spirit of the Indian Armed Forces.
00:14Most of you will be familiar with the various stories of Kargil.
00:19But friends, we will tell you about one such mission of the Kargil war,
00:23which is counted among the most critical and daring missions of the Indian Air Force's history.
00:29Which proved to be a turning point in the Kargil war.
00:32But this mission was not discussed as much in the public domain as it deserved.
00:39This mission was to bomb the enemy's camp in Muntho Dhalo.
00:44It all began on May 3, 1999, when for the first time, some locals informed the army about the intrusion of the Pakistanis
01:02and then on May 5, a search party was sent under the leadership of Captain Saurabh Kalia.
01:08But the enemy captured the search party under the leadership of Captain Saurabh Kalia
01:13and after a few days, his body was handed over to the Indian Army in a state of disarray.
01:19The brutality committed against Captain Kalia and his team was a sensational act in itself.
01:26With this incident, this news began to spread with the army and other forces
01:32that the situation in Kargil was not normal.
01:35Tatkaleen Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal A.Y. Tipnis has said in an article that
01:42it was 9 or 10 May 1999, when IAF Vice Chief Air Marshal Ben Brar told him while having tea in the office
01:50that news of something unusual in the Kargil sector was coming.
01:54On this, CS Tipnis asked if there was any update from the Air Officer, Commanding-in-Chief
02:01or Vice Chief of Army Staff of the Western Air Command.
02:04Since Tatkaleen Army Chief, General V.P. Malik was on a foreign tour at that time,
02:09Vice Chief Lieutenant General Chandrashekhar was heading the army.
02:13When Air Marshal Brar inquired about this from the AOCNC of the Western Air Command,
02:19he said that the situation was normal.
02:22But the very next day, Air Marshal Brar spoke to Army Vice Chief Lieutenant General Chandrashekhar
02:29and told him that there were some intruders who were being dealt with by the army.
02:35It is important to mention that the Kargil war was not a declared war.
02:40The Pakistani Army had captured the vacated posts of the Indian Army
02:45by sending their Northern Light Infantry soldiers and Mujahideen.
02:49But they kept denying this for a long time.
02:53Due to the fact that it was not a declared war,
02:56the armed forces were in doubt about the actual situation.
03:01Anyway, on 11th May 1999, Army Vice Chief called IAF Chief Tipnis
03:07and asked for fire support from MI-17 helicopters.
03:11IAF Chief Tipnis explained to Army Vice Chief that
03:14MI-17s can be an easy target for Pakistani Stinger missiles at this altitude.
03:20And apart from this, this is not an in-house services headquarters decision.
03:24Instead, the government will have to take the authorization for this.
03:27But on 15th May, CIS Tipnis met with Army Vice Chief Assistant Chief of Air Staff Operations
03:33and Assistant Chief of Air Staff Intelligence,
03:37in which it was decided that reconnaissance missions will be started
03:42and a high-altitude fire practice of the Tainat MI-17 fleet was also started in Srinagar.
03:49As MI-17s were generally used for transport helicopters,
03:54but during Kargil war, we did not have attack helicopters operating at high altitudes.
04:01Hence, MI-17s were equipped with weapons and countermeasure systems
04:06to perform combat missions at high altitudes.
04:09And initially, aircrafts like Jaguar and Canberra were used for reconnaissance missions.
04:16On 18th May, Army Vice Chief and DGMO briefed the Prime Minister about the situation.
04:22As the situation was getting clearer, it was also getting more and more complicated.
04:27Till now, there was a suspicion that a large number of Pakistani intruders
04:32have occupied the advantageous positions of the LOC line in the east and west of the Kargil sector.
04:40Meanwhile, on 21st May, during the reconnaissance mission,
04:44the enemy had hit the Canberra PR-57 aircraft of the Indian Air Force's 106th Squadron
04:49with the Chinese-made ANZA Infrared Surface-to-Air Missile
04:54and the missile hit the engine on the right side of the aircraft.
04:58However, the aircraft's pilot wing commander, CH Kulkarni
05:02and his fellow pilots were able to land the aircraft safely at the Srinagar base
05:05while demonstrating their excellent flying skills.
05:09A few days later, the MiG-25 Foxbat was assigned for reconnaissance missions.
05:15Its equipment was modified in such a way that it could collect intelligence from a safe height.
05:21After this incident, on 25th May, at the CCS meeting,
05:25PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee gave the green flag to the Air Force's attack operation
05:31but on the condition that the LOC should not be crossed under any circumstances.
05:36Although, the Indian Air Force was under pressure to use only attack helicopters,
05:42but CS Tipnitz was successful in convincing the government
05:46that fighter jet actions were needed to create a suitable environment for the helicopter.
05:52And this was the first time when the Indian Air Force was going to perform combat missions at high altitude.
05:58But why is it challenging to perform a mission at high altitude?
06:03We will find out in the next episode.
06:07Till then, Jai Hind, Jai Bharat.
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