Atlantique Incident - Confrontation

Confrontation

The French-built naval plane Breguet Atlantique (Breguet Br.1150 Atlantique) plane, flight Atlantic-91, c/n 33, of 29 Squadron was one of Pakistan Navy's frontline aircraft, used primarily for patrol and reconnaissance. Atlantic-91 left Mehran (Sindh province) Naval Base in Pakistan at 9:15 a.m. (PST). An Indian Air Force ground radar picked up the flight path of the plane approaching the International Border. Two IAF MiG-21 interceptor aircraft of No.45 Squadron, from the Indian airbase at Naliya in the Kutch region, were soon scrambled by the Indian Air Force. After a series of maneuvers—and a conflicting version of events from both sides—the two jets were given clearance to shoot down the Pakistani plane. At 11:17 a.m. IST (10:47 a.m. PST), nearly two hours after takeoff from Pakistan, the Atlantique was intercepted and an infrared homing R-60 air-to-air missile was fired at it by Squadron Leader P.K. Bundela, hitting the engine on the port side of the plane. This resulted in the aircraft losing control and spiraling towards a crash at approximately 1100 hours PST and approximate location 23°54′N 68°16′E / 23.9°N 68.267°E / 23.9; 68.267, killing all 16 on board the Atlantic-91, including five officers of the Pakistan Navy.

The incident was the Pakistan Navy's only loss of an aircraft to hostile fire in its history, and the biggest combat-related casualty for the navy since the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.