Excerpt
Sukhoi downs Pakistan drone on Rajasthan border
Mar 5, 2019
An Indian fighter shot down a Pakistani unmanned aerial vehicle on Monday after it came across the international border in Rajasthan, in the third such incident amid heightened tensions along the borders since the February 26 air strikes on a major Jaish-e-Mohammed facility at Balakot in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.
Fighters were scrambled from the Suratgrah and Nal airbases after the airspace violation was detected by air defence radars in the Anupgarh-Bikaner sector around 11.30 am. “The unidentified flying object, which was flying at the speed of a UAV(Unmanned aerial vehicle) or drone, was brought down by an air-to-air missile fired by a Sukhoi-30MKI. The wreckage could not be recovered since it fell across the border near a feature called MW Toba,” a source said
Barely three hours after the pre-dawn air strikes on Balakot on February 26, a Pakistani UAV was shot down along the Kutch border in Gujarat around 6.30 am. “Another drone like object was shot down along the border with Barmer district of Rajasthan a couple of days later. Pakistan is obviously trying to put pressure and test our defences in the Rajasthan sector,” the source said.
Both sides are maintaining a high level of operational readiness, which also includes some re-deployment of mechanised forces along the international border in Rajasthan. “Though there is no large-scale troop mobilisation by us, we have undertaken some precautionary movements and re-adjustments to be ready for any eventuality,” said an officer.
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