Operation Safed Sagar
सफ़ेद सागरWhite sea — for the snow below
The air component of Kargil, flown where aircraft barely fly.
- Dates
- 26 May – 26 July 1999
- Theatre
- Kargil, Ladakh
- Services
- IAF
Summary
Operation Safed Sagar ( lit. "Operation White Ocean") was the code name assigned to the combined arms operation by the Indian Air Force, supporting elements of the Indian Army during the 1999 Kargil war that was aimed at flushing out regular and irregular troops of the Pakistani Army from vacated Indian Positions in the Kargil sector along the Line of Control.
Objective
Support the ground recapture of the Kargil heights from the air, without crossing the Line of Control.
Outcome
Air power shifted from ineffective early low-level attacks to precision delivery from medium altitude, which broke the defenders' supply and made positions like Tiger Hill untenable.
Losses — contested
A MiG-21 and a MiG-27 were lost in the opening days, and an Mi-17 to a shoulder-fired missile.
Equipment
What it was conducted with
5 catalogued platforms recorded as taking part. Not exhaustive — it lists what this catalogue holds, not everything that was fielded.
Indian Air Force
Dassault Mirage 2000
Vajra
The precision striker that hit Balakot.
- Role
- Multirole fighter aircraft
- In service
- 1985 — present
Indian Air Force
MiG-21 Bison
Supersonic jet fighter and interceptor aircraft.
- Role
- Fighter and interceptor aircraft
- In service
- 1963 — retired
Indian Air Force
Mikoyan MiG-29 UPG
Baaz
The Falcon — India's dedicated air-dominance fighter.
- Role
- Air superiority fighter, multirole fighter
- In service
- 1987 — present
Indian Air Force
SA 315B Lama
French single-engined helicopter.
- Role
- Utility helicopter
- In service
- 1970 — present
Indian Air Force
Antonov An-32
Sutlej
Turboprop twin-engined military transport aircraft.
- Role
- Military transport aircraft
- In service
- 1984 — present