Ajmer: A day after Indian Air Force struck at terror camps in Pakistan, a couple in Rajasthan has decided to name their newborn “Mirage” as a tribute to the fighter jets that were used in the operation.
The newborn’s father, SS Rathore, said the family hoped that Mirage would join the nation’s security forces when he grows up.
“We named our child Mirage Rathore to commemorate the strike on Pakistan by the Mirage jets. We hope he will join the security forces when he grows up," he said.
Early on Tuesday, 12 Mirage-2000 jets of the IAF entered Pakistani airspace and dropped 1,000-kg laser-guided bombs on Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror launch pads across the Line of Control.
Government sources told CNN-News18 there were over 200 casualties in the strike, which targeted the biggest JeM hideout in Balakot in a counter-terrorism operation.
The Mirage-2000 is one of the IAF’s most versatile and deadliest aircraft and was first commissioned in 1985.
Soon after inducting the Mirage, IAF gave it the name – Vajra – meaning lightening thunderbolt in Sanskrit.
The Mirage-2000 is developed by Dassault Aviation and took its first flight in 1978 and was inducted in the French Air Force in 1984.
The Mirage-2000 played a decisive role in the 1999 war of Kargil, following which the government in India placed an additional order of 10 Mirage-2000 planes in 2004, taking the total tally to 50 jets.
Dassault built an estimated 580 Mirage-2000s over a course of 30 years before replacing it with the Rafael MMC jets.
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