Missiles below, mountains ahead: How the IAF had to improvise in the middle of war

The aerial component of the Kargil Sector in 1999 was a unique campaign. Never before or after has an air force engaged in an air-to-ground campaign at those altitudes. With fighter pilots more attuned to air-to-air combat at these altitudes of 14-18,000 feet.So, when the Indian Air Force (IAF) began Operation Safed Sagar on May 26, the arm was writing how to fight air-to-ground campaigns at those altitudes. Although direct combat operations began on May 26, the air force had been participating in combat support operations such as logistics, casualty evacuation and aerial reconnaissance for a few more days.Fighting a war at 18,000 feetFighting at these altitudes was not new for the Indian armed forces; the army had evicted Pakistani irregulars from Dras and Kargil Saltoro Ridge in 1948, then again in the 1962 war, followed by the 1965 war in which fighting took place with the army capturing key…