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India Scrambles fighter jets as French flight transmits wrong IFF

by Irawwan | August 27, 2009 at 06:19 pm

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Indian Airforce scrambled it's fighter jets as an Air France Airbus 343 which was going to Bangkok from Paris through Pakistan city Lahore transmitted wrong IFF (Identify Friend or Foe) code. The IAF radar detected this aircraft and immediately scrambled two Mig 29s to "intercept" the unidentified aircraft. The mission was immediately aborted as the French switched to correct IFF code realising it's mistake.

The recent terror attacks and the resultant tension was keeping the Indian Air Force in a high alert so that it can respond to any threats across the border.

The Indian Air Force on Thursday scrambled its MiG 29 fighter jets to intercept an Air France flight entering India from Pakistan over Amritsar as the aircraft had switched on wrong Identify Friend or Foe (IFF) code.

"Taking prompt action after our radars detected an unknown aircraft over our territory, we scrambled two of our MiG 29 air defence fighter jets from Adampur air base to intercept the aircraft at around 0610 hours in the morning, as it had switched on a wrong IFF code," IAF officials said here.

"The mission was aborted soon after the fighters took off as the French aircraft had switched over to the right codes," they added.