Indian Air Force Admits Balakot Strike Didn’t Go As Planned

It has been two months since India perpetrated an airstrike in Pakistani space. The dust has not settled completely, as both countries deny others’ claims of how the strike went about.

Pakistan claims Indian jets could not go far into the Pakistani airspace due to its air force’s timely response. Whereas, the Indian side is adamant to prove otherwise, claiming it not only entered into Pakistan airspace but also destroyed the militant base camps.

While Pakistani claim got much traction, especially when Indian Minister for External Affairs, Sushma Swaraj, admitted that there was no casualty, be it a Pakistani soldier or citizen, in the Balakot operation.

Now, an Indian Air Force report on the Balakot airstrike has also pointed out faults in the India weapon system because of which the operation did not go as planned.

The report on ‘lessons learnt’ from airstrike in Pakistan highlighted both positive and negative aspects of the airstrike while admitting that there were several deviations from the plan and ‘some outright negatives’ too.

Faulty Integration

As for the negatives, the report’s findings verify the claims that the indigenous integration of India’s new weapon system is flawed. The IAF has acknowledged that the software changes made by the Indian technicians to integrate new weapon systems with Mirage 2000 aircraft did not completely work.

The report also noted that the fighter fleet failed to withstand the weather conditions and had trouble with the cloud cover. Moreover, the entire weapons package (payload), apart from the Spice 2000, could not be delivered, raising questions about weapon-to-target matching.

As for the indigenously integrated weapon system, an IAF official opines, “The Balakot experience underlines integration of new weapons with platforms should be done by the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) despite the cost involved.”

Notably, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute made the same assessment that the precision-guided munitions (PGMs) employed in the strike were incorrectly programmed, undermining the precision in reaching the targets.

An Indian Express report states while citing an official source that one PGM could not be delivered by the Mirage 2000 aircraft because the 35-year-old legacy aircraft had a drift in the inertial navigation system.

“It meant that there was a mismatch between the location seen by the PGM and the aircraft at the point of the delivery of the PGM, which led to it not being fired from the aircraft,” says the official.


  • Dair Aye Durst Aye Yahi Hum Keh Rahy the :

    Wahi Thoook K Chatne Wali Indian Log

  • LMAO These indians terrorist eik moka be nai chorte apna mazak orane ka che che shame on indians, world’s biggest idiot and ignorant people.

  • All well said then why did Pakistan Army took Forty days to take international journalists to the site? And there is no supporting materials to your article? These are classified informations. Why still there is no news about the 2nd pilot and about the pilot who was beaten up and dies by Pakistani civilian?

  • How conveniently proton of report is choosen. The report also says that PAF took 10 min time to respond.

    • Yeah. The report also says that 5 of the 6 targets were hit and also mentions that while Pakistan expected some reaction to Pulwama attacks, they expected it to from Indian army not Air Force. Pakistan’s rudimentary air defense system that did not spot American incursion during the Bin Laden killing was at fault once again and as many as 7-8 Indian jets went deep inside Pakistan and returned within matter of minutes. BBC reports confirmed that locals in Balakot confirmed loud explosions

  • My Dear @KR….Bin Laden was planned operation in Pakistan….kiuke Zardari is American Dog agreed for it as he was the president at that time…..You think America can kill Bin Laden ?? as they cannot defeat Taliban after 17 years battle in Afghanisran now want to run from their….And you think Bin Laden will take a big villa in city and live there with family and neighbours won’t know who’s in that big villa…..Shame on Americans and Indians….Dono ki Awam Bewaqoof Ha…Jaise Politicians Pagal banate ha waise pagal ban jate ho tum log…..Grow Up Guys…….Seriously


  • Get Alerts

    Follow ProPakistani to get latest news and updates.


    ProPakistani Community

    Join the groups below to get latest news and updates.



    >