IAF shoots down Pakistani drone on Rajasthan border

A Pakistani unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was shot down by the Indian Air Force after it came across the international border in Rajasthan on Monday, according to reports in the Indian media.

The UAV or drone was brought down by an air-to-air missile fired by a Sukhoi-30MKI after an airspace violation was detected by defence radars in the Anupgarh-Bikaner sector around 11:30 am, reports The Times of India.

It was the second drone to be taken out by the IAF in the space of a week after a UAV was shot down in the Kutch region of Gujarat on Feb 26.

“The unidentified flying object, which was flying at the speed of a UAV(Unmanned aerial vehicle) or drone, was brought down by an air-to-air missile fired by a Sukhoi-30MKI. The wreckage could not be recovered since it fell across the border near a feature called MW Toba,” a source told The Times of India.

The two nuclear-armed neighbours have been at loggerheads after a terror attack in Kashmir triggered an Indian air strike Balakot in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.

A MiG 21 Bison piloted by Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was shot down during a subsequent aerial dogfight with Pakistani air force. He was captured by Pakistani forces after his plane crashed on the Pakistani side of the de facto border that separates the two sides of Kashmir.

Pakistan released  the captured pilot via the Wagah border on Mar 1 in an effort to de-escalate the growing tensions between the countries.