Media: Indian Air Force on High Alert at Border with Pakistan

The Indian Air Force (IAF) at the border with Pakistan has been placed on high alert. This is reported by TASS, citing The Times of India newspaper.

Crews of fighter aircraft squadrons with full armament at forward bases in the states of Rajasthan and Punjab are on constant readiness for immediate combat sorties. French-purchased multirole Rafale fighters with Scalp air-to-ground cruise missiles with a range of over 300 km can be involved in combat missions.

The readiness of aviation at Indian military airfields has also been increased due to unprovoked shelling by Pakistani servicemen, which occurred on the night of May 5 in eight sectors along the entire Line of Control in Kashmir, the publication notes.

Indo-Pakistani relations escalated after the terrorist attack on April 22 in Pahalgam in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, which resulted in the deaths of 25 Indian citizens and 1 Nepali. India stated that it has evidence of the involvement of the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence in the attack carried out by the group Lashkar-e-Taiba (banned in the Russian Federation). New Delhi and Islamabad have introduced mutual restrictive measures against diplomatic staff, suspended bilateral agreements, and closed their airspace to each other's aircraft. Both sides report incidents of firing on the Line of Control and retaliatory actions taken.