In May 1997, a MiG-25R aircraft from 102 Squadron broke the sound barrier over Islamabad while undertaking one of its many secret reconnaissance missions over Pakistan, emitting a sonic boom.

While the Indian Air Force made no official claims about this secret reconnaissance mission, Pakistan did make a statement.

It claimed that the pilot aboard the Indian MiG-25 aircraft deliberately sent the sonic boom to remind the Pakistan Air Force that it had no equal in its inventory.

Despite a fully-loaded weight of 40-tonnes, it flew 50 km per minute, faster than a bullet.

The MiG-25 was fitted with powerful 1,200 mm cameras that captured photographs even as it flew thrice the speed of sound, at an altitude three times the height of Mount Everest.