Air Force's Balakot-fame Mirage 2000 takes part for 1st time in UK's Ex Cobra Warrior

Indian Air Force's Mirage 2000 which carried out the Balakot airstrikes in 2019, for the first time participated in the multinational exercise Cobra Warrior 2023 at the Waddington air base in the United Kingdom.

Notably, around 100 IAF personnel and five Mirage-2000 aeroplanes, two C-17 Globemaster-III strategic airlift planes, and one IL-78 mid-air refuelling aircraft travelled to UK's Waddington from Jamnagar air base for the exercise.

James Calvert, Exercise Director of 'Cobra Warrior' expressed his pleasure over the participation of the IAF.  "'Cobra Warrior' is a routine exercise that the UK hosts. The purpose of this exercise is to invite participating nations to operate with each other and with the UK. It is wonderful to have Indian Air Force here with Mirage 2000," he told ANI.

#WATCH | United Kingdom: Indian Air Force Mirage 2000 for the first time took part in the multi-national exercise 'Cobra Warrior 2023' at Waddington airbase. pic.twitter.com/J1cCua1tYZ

— ANI (@ANI)

The team leader of the Indian contingent participating in exercise Cobra Warrior, Group Captain M Gangola said, "These are the same machines," when questioned if the Mirage-2000 used in ‘Cobra Warrior’ is the same that was used in Balakot operations. " They remain very capable aircraft for modern warfare."

Speaking about his experience of multinational participation, the IAF Group Captain said, "The experience has been very enriching. We’ve been able to travel 4,500 miles from India, deploy here and operate in fairly harsh weather conditions with different air forces across the globe. And we’ve been able to execute fairly complex missions in a very short timeframe."

Balakot-fame Mirage 2000 participates in Ex Cobra Warrior in UK

"It has been a great experience," Group Captain Pranav Raj, Commanding officer of squadron 7, Indian Air Force Battle axes, echoed similar sentiments. "We’ve learnt quite a bit when flying with participating nations. We’ve flown with F-18s, and F-16s and carrying out the entire spectrum of air operations which are involved in terms of offensive and defensive counter-air missions and others. It’s an exercise giving good exposure to the air and maintenance crew," he said.

Group Captain Raj also detailed the Indian contingent participating in the Cobra Warrior 2023. "We are a total of about 100 people. This includes technicians as well as aircrew. I’m here with 17 of my pilots and about 54 of my technicians and the balance of the contingent for various other duties in terms of administration logistics and so on. So the total contingent of the Indian Air Force is about 100 personnel and we are here with five Mirage 2000 aircraft," he said.

Balakot airstrikes

On February 26, 2019, 12 IAF Mirage 2000 fighter planes took off for their operation from multiple locations and bombed Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camps in Pakistan’s Balakot, to avenge the suicide bombing on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in J&K's Pulwama in which 40 security personnel were killed.

The Balakot airstrikes were a "non-military pre-emptive" strike on terrorist training facilities. The airstrikes were conducted around 3:30 in the morning, and the IAF planes safely landed back at their bases.