Air Force Day celebration at Hindon Air Base in Ghaziabad

The Mirage 2000 squadron that carried out the Balakot air strikes and the squadron of Wing Commander Abhinandan will be honoured by IAF chief Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria on Air Force Day in Ghaziabad on October 8. Wing Commander Abhinandan, who belongs to the 51 Squadron, had shot down a Pakistani F-16 jet that had intruded into the Indian borders on February 27.

During the dogfight, Abhinandan's MiG 21 Bison had also been shot. He had been captured by the Pakistani forces only to be released a day later.

The 9 Squadron of the IAF, also known as 'Wolfpack', is based at the Gwalior Air Force Station and comprises Mirage 2000 fighter jets. Five Mirage 2000 fighter jets of the 9 Squadron had carried out the airstrikes against a terror camp near Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, in a pre-dawn aerial attack.