Republic TV has accessed full and exclusive details of Indian Air Force's (IAF's) massive pre-dawn operation on Tuesday in which an estimated 245 Pakistani terrorist foot-soldiers and handlers have been neutralised in three locations across LoC.

details accessed by Republic TV, apart from shedding ermous light on operation itself, confirm that planning h begun in immediate aftermath of Jaish-e-Mohammed-perpetrated terror attack on CRPF in which 40 Jawans were martyred, vindicating government's position, voiced by PM Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh, that forces h been given a free hand to avenge dastardly attack.

Here's how operation came about:

PULWAMA TERROR ATTACK

February 14: A Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber targeted a CRPF convoy on Jammu-Srinagar highway at Pulwama. 40 CRPF Jawans were martyred in attack - worst terror attack on forces in deces. 

PLANNING ST

February 15 - Conceiving operation: With Prime Minister assuring nation that forces h been given free rein to avenge attack, all three Armed Forces chiefs along with IDF (Integrated Defence Staff) chief presented ir military options to Prime Minister and National Security visor (NSA) to target terror bases in Pakistan. NSA h given instructions that target should only be terror bases - training facilities or launchps - and t Pakistani military bases.

February 16 - Narrowing down mode of strike: After respective presentations of options at hand, some of m, including one entailing a bigger surgical strike and capture of Pakistani posts, were ruled out for various reasons. Army was, however, tasked with keeping Pakistan engd in heavy shelling, Navy was tasked with deploying submarines closer to Karachi and Gwar in order to create a maritime attack decoy.

Indian Air Force was tasked with carrying out strike. IAF's DG Air Ops (Offensive) sought 10 days time to prepare precision strikes. NSA Ajit Doval granted time with instruction that re be collateral dam to men or aircraft.

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(Identifying mode of insertion) point of insertion of IAF was identified as Muzaffrab, on account of Pakistan's low air defence capabilities in sector. IAF DG Air Ops instructed that fighters t go too deep into Pakistani air - t more than 10-15 miles - in order to comply with instructions from PM and NSA about avoiding any collateral dam.

(Drone deployment, on-ground intelligence and Vayushakti exercise) On same day, Army and IAF drones were deployed to check Pakistan's rar capability and deployment. However, with drones t giving desired results, R&AW's ground intelligence from Pakistan proved very effective. 

IAF's Vayushakti exercise in Pokhran was quickly modified to check Pakistan's rar capabilities as well. It was found that Pak rars were extremely sensitive during exercise, especially focusing on IAF bases near LoC and International Border. Hence, Gwalior was chosen as base to launch air strikes.

Accordingly, IL-78 air refuelling tanker was reied in Agra, AEW-145 airborne rar was reied at Bhatinda airbase and SU-30s were reied from Sirsa airbase for immediate defence and to tackle Pakistan in case IAF Mir 2000s were engd.

February 18: Military visor to NSA, IB Chief and R&AW chief gave 5 target options to IAF, of which three were chosen considering operational aspects.

February 19 - Operational clearance received: IAF received detailed and exact operational clearance, approved by PM and NSA. Instructions to IAF were clear:

• To t go deep into Pakistani air. Hence, Israeli lightning-laser designator pods would drop paylos from a distance.
• That re be collateral dam.

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IAF'S OPERATION

February 26:

Locations chosen: Joint training camps of JeM, LeT and HM in Balakot, Muzaffarab and Chakothi

Time chosen: Between 0300 and 0330 hours - a window of least resistance from Pakistani Air Force. IAF planned to t be in Pakistani air for more than 20 minutes considering Pakistan's reaction time. mission was completed in just 17 minutes.

following Aircraft, services and systems were deployed:

• 1 Embraer AEW-145 took off from Bhatinda airbase at around 0100 hours
• 1 IL-78 mid-air refueller took off from Agra airbase at around 0100 hours
• 16 Mir 2000s from three squrons - 1 from Tiger squron, 7 from Battle Axes and 8 from Wolf Pack - took off from Gwalior airbase at around 0200 hours in batches, with 6 fighters in three pairs of two being designated to carry out precision strikes using Israeli laser pods on Pakistan's terror training camps.
• 4 SU-30 MKIs took off from Sirsa airbase at around 0300 hours.
• Pechora missiles at all IAF bases near LoC and IB were kept on standby to counter Pak aircraft in case y come into Indian air chasing Mir 2000s.
• IAF bases were alerted around 0300 hours to deploy ground assets and recovery teams in case a crash happens in Indian air.

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operation was conducted by Central and Western Air Command and monitored by Air HQ in New Delhi through IACCS - Integrated Air Command and Control System. IAF fighters didn't go more than 10 miles into Pak air.

Preparedness ahe: IAF is currently at highest level of defensive and offensive preparedness.