Operation Tiger Hill - Kargil Operations

This is my painting on attack of Tiger Hill by Mirage 2000 of Indian Air Force (IAF)  with Laser Guided Bomb (LGB). The painting has been composed purely on my visualisation of the attack after some detailed discussions with officers that planned and executed this daring operation that will certainly go down in records as exemplary integration of ideas and efforts by pilots and engineers of IAF to achieve brilliance in time of actual operation.  

I do not know if I can reveal all that I know on integration of the LDP with the weapon and with weapon delivery system of Mirage 2000 that was so vital for success of the mission. Few of my good friends who were test pilots in IAF and now retired had assisted me with the facts with a request to record the event on canvas. As I am not at all familiar with a Mirage 2000 it took me almost two years to get the   photographs of the trainer aircraft with the actual configuration (LDP +LGB+Remora+ Magic 2+ Wing Tanks). CO 7 Sqn was quite generous with his help. I also bought a scale model of a Mirage trainer to plan my composition.

I am sure those of you that have flown Mirage 2000 or have worked on ground may find quite a few mistakes/errors in the painting. I will be grateful if such errors can be pointed out. The paint is still wet and all minor of major defects can be attended to with minimum hassel.

Finally, on the sortie itself, what can be better than a narrative provided by the pilot himself. A write-up on the attack by AVM R Nambiar, which is available in public domain, is attached. To me it was one of the “Finest Hour of IAF History”. I also must add that I have read a blog by a PAF historian Air Cmde Kaiser Taufail (Retd) and he says that use of LGB by Mirages was the actual game changer.

This is my painting on attack of Tiger Hill by Mirage 2000 of Indian Air Force (IAF)  with Laser Guided Bomb (LGB). The painting has been composed purely on my visualisation of the attack after some detailed discussions with officers that planned and executed this daring operation that will certainly go down in records as exemplary integration of ideas and efforts by pilots and engineers of IAF to achieve brilliance in time of actual operation.  

I do not know if I can reveal all that I know on integration of the LDP with the weapon and with weapon delivery system of Mirage 2000 that was so vital for success of the mission. Few of my good friends who were test pilots in IAF and now retired had assisted me with the facts with a request to record the event on canvas. As I am not at all familiar with a Mirage 2000 it took me almost two years to get the   photographs of the trainer aircraft with the actual configuration (LDP +LGB+Remora+ Magic 2+ Wing Tanks). CO 7 Sqn was quite generous with his help. I also bought a scale model of a Mirage trainer to plan my composition.

I am sure those of you that have flown Mirage 2000 or have worked on ground may find quite a few mistakes/errors in the painting. I will be grateful if such errors can be pointed out. The paint is still wet and all minor of major defects can be attended to with minimum hassel.

Finally, on the sortie itself, what can be better than a narrative provided by the pilot himself. To me it was one of the “Finest Hour of IAF History”. I also must add that I have read a blog by a PAF historian Air Cmde Kaiser Taufail (Retd) and he says that use of LGB by Mirages was the actual game changer.