MiG-21 vs Atlantique Incident (India-Pakistan 1999)

August 1999, less than a month after Kargil War. A Pakistani maritime patrol aircraft Breguet Atlantique takes off and approaches the border with India. Two MiG-21 bis from the squadron No 45 of the Indian Air Force scramble to intercept it. Squadron leader Bundela pulls alongside of the Pakistani aircraft and attempts to direct it to land. But, the Pakistani pilot pulls left and makes a dash back home. This is interpreted by the Indian pilots as a 'hostile act' and they ask for permission to engage the intruder.
Just like most other things relative to Indo-Pakistani relationship, two sides have rather different views of what happened. This video however relies mostly on the Indian interpretation.
Limited assets in DCS World made an approximation necessary. Breguet Atlantique is represented here by Antonov An-26, another twin-engine propeller driven aircraft.

Sources:
- How IAF MiG 21 shot down the Pakistani Patrol Aircraft over Kutch
- How IAF shot down a Pakistani naval aircraft and killed 16 a month after Kargil in 1999
- IAF's Atlantique Kill Picture Gallery
- Indians Down Pakistan Plane; 16 Aboard Die - The New York Times
- It was unfortunate IAF officer who shot down Pak maritime jet carrying 16 Latest News India - Hindustan Times
- It was unfortunate IAF officer who shot down Pak maritime jet carrying 16 Latest News India - Hindustan Times
- Official IAF Statement on the PN Atlantique shootdown
- The Atlantique Incident. Pakistan Defence

Lotus by Kevin MacLeod

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[showtime]

Not all the assets in this reenactment are 100% historical. The Pakistani Atlantique is represented by a transport Antonov since that was the closest thing available in DCS World. There's no need to 'correct' this. Thank you!

[Charanms]

Forget Military aircraft, Pakistan had shot down Civilian aircraft in September 1965 even after Pilot confirming with the Ground station more than once. The aircraft carried a Chief minister of an Indian state and seven more people.The Indian Airforce has not willingly done it in History. Years later the Captain of the Pakistani aircraft asked for forgiveness and confirmed that the narrative . So stop all this nonsense of how would you feel.

[boxbrewing]

This isn't quickly becoming my favorite aviation channel, it's been my favorite for some time now! Again, an amazing military aviation lesson by the best DCS aircraft historian on YouTube. Showtime112 has become the go to channel and continues to provide excellent content as usual. Keep up the great work!

[mr.normalguy]

Aggression or not, why on Earth would a Pakistani plane go inside the Indian airspace? And if it didn't, why would it fly close to the Indian border without any fighter escort? Especially considering that both India and Pakistan fought a war against each other just one or two months ago?
I'm no pilot or air marshal, but either the Pakistani side was over confident to not send any escort for their plane in case they get shot down, or they were over confident to think that a Pakistani plane would return home alive from an Indian air space if they didn't comply.

It just makes no sense...

[pablopeter]

By bringing pack this aviation historical events you are paying tribute to the parties who were involved in this conflict, regardless of the side and political matters. Thanks, great video, as usual.

[twowheelstouring]

I think it's fair enough, if you follow the interceptors and land everyone lives, the stink is short lived and a few weeks later the crew fly home. Silly mistake by PAF/Navy.

[rahilobhan]

Basically it's supposed to fly over seas..not over ..land n once warned to land on the nearest India' Air force base..it should ve followed it..they were responsible for their own mistake or oversmartness ..sad they didn't listened to the MiG 21 warning..it was on a secret mission other wise why did they not obeyed..they could be several reasons..but we need to protect our borders.. God bless..n hope the Pak Air force do not act stupid again..

[iljajekimov]

You are making historical moments come to life for us. That's great job again!!!

[hi_moneynoise]

Don't argue with our sweet Pakistani friends
Just say "PKMKB" and leave 👀

[dumdumbrown]

Hey mate 🇭🇷 great video and fantastic narrative 👍🏽 greetings from Oz 🇦🇺 Sad to see how many excellent IAF pilots India has lost to the failures of MiG 21 Bisons 😢 Jai Hind 🇮🇳

[IGLArocknroll]

An excellent and informative video, as always.
As a neutral observer I'd say: Pakistan is solely responsible for this. ELINT and recce missions are pretty commonplace between adversaries, and sometimes the crews get too enthusiastic about their mission and cross the borders. Ground control should've warned them when they crossed the border to return to Pakistani airspace immediately, and that would've certainly resulted in a diplomatic incident, but no loss of life, or at least they should've warned them to head home immediately when they spotted the two Indian interceptors on their radar. I know, landing at an airbase of a potential enemy would've meant serious consequences, due to the sensitive nature of their mission, but even if they lost contact with ground control, they should've landed at an Indian Air Force base, just like the EP-3 did at Hainan. This has left the Indians with no other viable options, as letting the Atlantique fly home without any hindrance was not an option.

[nicolasrouvreau]

You don't wan't to follow the interceptor ? Great, now explain yourself to the missile.

[nayandutta]

Being an Indian who's in the Aviation industry...this is damn accurate.

[shuban]

Kinda did feel bad for them at first but then again the Pilot's never complied so they brought it upon once again an awesome job mate keep up the good work and godspeed :)

[takaharatanaka]

As a retired US Army Rotary Wing Aviator:
I very much appreciate your fairness.
Things are never black & white especially to the flight crews when, ECM, ECCM & all sorts of weird shit gets deployed. Flying is rather chaotic at times. Sometimes a minute here, a minute there can result in being kilometers from where one thinks one is.
Quite honestly, shit happens.
(SHRUG) other times, it is exactly what it looks like it is.

[DiaconescuAlexandru]

Great content as always, the scene at 08:25 must have taken A LOT of tries ! I also appreciate you being neutral in the story and playing devil's advocate for the pakistanis.

[andrewlambert]

It was worth much more than the helicopter, Mig 27, Mig 21. Thats how things are done. It helped France secure a new order.

Exactly the right decision was taken by Indian defense.

[नितिनअग्रवाल]

Also, you can't ignore the fact that this happened just weeks after India won a war against Pakistan (kargil war)

[Dhksksjjsjjs]

Navy aircraft training over land, making navigational mistake(for around half an hour)... With full crew over enemy Land for 20+ minutes, and they didn't comply with interceptors


Totally believable... Pakistanis!

Do they really expect enemy to just let go of their aircraft, which most probably has sensitive intel?!!