Op Safed Sagar
No. 7 squadron was back in action again in May 1999, called to assist the Army in the area North, North-East of Kargil during Operation Vijay. The Battle Axes at that time was under the command of Wg Cdr Sandeep Chabra. For the first time, the IAF had employed Precision guided munitions to strike the supply lines of the entrenched enemy.
After the failure of the first strikes by Jaguars, the task was assigned to the Mirages. Flying from Adampur AFB, Mirages of the No. 1 Sqn, No.7 Sqn and No.9 Sqn struck Tigerhill, Muntho Dhalo, Tololing. Along with the LGBs, 1000lbers were also used. On one particular sortie, a Mirage came upon a Pakistani Army Helicopter, but did not engage as it was in the moment of crossing back over the LoC.
Wg Cdr Chabra received the Yudh Seva Medal(YSM). Wg Cdr R Nambiar, who was an experienced test pilot attached to 7 Squadron during the course of operations was awarded the Vayusena Medal (VM), having flown over 25 sorties during that period delivering PGMs in precision attacks. Sqn Ldr DB Patnaik, who flew on the strike against Tiger Hill also received the VM. Sqn Ldr AS Heer, was awarded the VM, having shown considerable ingenuity to record the effects of the bomb-strikes. Sqn Ldr KI Ravi, who devised the adaptation of the 1000 lb bombs to the Mirage was also the VM.
Read more about this topic: No. 7 Squadron IAF, Kargil Operations in May 1999