Why Did Indian Army Select Prithvi Missiles To Strike Pakistan After The Deadly 2019 Aerial Skirmish? March 1, 2021 India’s Modi government had reportedly ordered the army to deploy homegrown Prithvi ballistic missiles in the Rajasthan sector bordering Pakistan when Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot Abhinandan Varthaman was held captive by the neighboring country in 2019. During the post-Balakot border skirmishes on February 27, 2019, the 37-year old IAF pilot’s aircraft was shot down in an aerial dogfight by a Pakistani jet after which he was captured by the Pakistan Army. In the wee hours of February 26, India had carried out cross-border airstrikes at Balakot to dismantle terror infrastructure. The operation was launched to avenge the killings of 40 Indian CRPF troopers in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama by the Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed on February 14, 2019.