IAF 87th anniversary: India gets first Rafale, celebrates Balakot strike
As the Indian Air Force (IAF) celebrated its 87th anniversary on Tuesday, a clear theme was the operations of February 26, when Indian fighter aircraft attacked the Balakot terrorist training camp in Pakistan and skirmished with counter-attacking Pakistan Air Force (PAF) fighters the next morning. Drawing thunderous applause from spectators at Hindan Air Base outside Delhi was the “avenger formation” in the fly-past, a three-aircraft formation led by Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman in his MiG-21 Bison fighter, flanked by two Mirage 2000 fighters flown by pilots who had bombed Balakot.
Varthaman was shot down and captured by the Pakistani military in that skirmish, but only after shooting down a PAF F-16 fighter, as claimed by the IAF.
