The Indian Air Force strike happened when maximum targets were inside the camp, he said
CHENNAI, April 4:
Air Marshal Simhakutty Vardhaman (retired), father of wing commander Abhinandan, the fighter pilot who was briefly in Pakistan custody, said on Wednesday that the laser-guided smart bombs (SPICE – 2000) used to attack the terror camp at Balakot could have killed 250 to 300 terrorists.
Talking to students of defence studies at IIT-Madras about the air strikes on the Jaish-e-Muhammed training camp at Balakot, he said, “The Indian Air Force strike happened when maximum targets were inside the camp. The structural damage might be limited, but the fuse of the bomb is delayed to ensure maximum casualties.”
“Pakistan’s F-16s and AMRAAM missiles were the real threat to us. We had to first get F-16s off our back by making sure they were headed to some other direction when we were going to Balakot. So we did a lot of deception,” he said. “Basically, we launched seven aircrafts towards Bahawalpur, which is the headquarters of JeM. Pakistan thought we were on the way to attack Bahawalpur and sent F-16s to engage with our fighter aircrafts. Simultaneously, we launched aircrafts to attack Balakot. In a nutshell, the Pakistan Air Force was deceived completely,” he explained.
Air Marshal Vardhaman said Pakistan was in a state of alert and knew an attack from India was imminent. “However, they did not realise that we got into their territory,” the decorated Air Marshal said, adding that this was his reading of the events, which may not be the absolute truth.
Courtesy: TOI
