Defence and aviation enthusiasts around the world have gone bonkers on forums discussing Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman for shooting down an F-16 fighter from a less-advanced MiG-21 Bison. But he was not the first one to shoot down a Pakistani F-16. That distinction goes to… wait for it… the Pakistan Air Force.
Wg Cdr Abhinandan's shootdown of the PAF F-16 with a Russian Vympel R-73 missile has checked all the right boxes for aviation and defence enthusiasts to take note. Both the aircraft and the missile that scored the kill were at least a generation behind the aircraft that was downed. This was used as proof of the old adage that goes 'a good workman doesn't blame his tools' that a superior pilot in an inferior aircraft is more potent than when the combination is the other way around.
Pakistan has tried to cover up the shootdown of its F-16. It had gone so far as to say none of its F-16s took part in the thwarted air raid into India. But that lie was exposed when the Indian military displayed a piece of the fuselage of an AIM-120C-5 AMRAAM missile that was recovered from the Indian side of the Line of Control (LoC). The F-16 is the only aircraft in the entire region that can use those missiles, and only Pakistan has them.
While Wg Cdr Abhinandan's shootdown of the F-16 is another story, it wasn't the first time a Pakistani F-16 has been shot down. That distinction goes to the Pakistan Air Force.
The event in question happened on April 29, 1987. Two PAF F-16As of the No 14 Squadron were diverted from their return to their base towards Miranshah, near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. This was at the height of the joint campaign against the Russian presence in Afghanistan.
Their task was to engage a formation of four Russian MiG-23s that were carrying out a bombing operation in Afghanistan, on the pretext that the Russian aircraft were violating Pakistani airspace.
The two F-16s came in below the climbing MiG-23s, when one of them was hit. It turned out that an AIM-9P Sidewinder missile fired by the F-16 flown by then Wg Cdr Amjad Javed had hit the right wing of the other F-16, bringing it down. The F-16 that took the hit was flown by Flight Lieutenant Shahid Sikandar, who ejected safely and went on to retire as a Wing Commander.
Then too, as now, Pakistan attempted to cover up the embarrassment saying the F-16 had crashed due to technical difficulties. The event had caused concern in the top levels of the US government, over the vulnerabilities of the F-16 against Russian aircraft.
Investigations later revealed to the international community that a sensor that is supposed to identify if the target locked on is a friend or foe had failed to correctly identify it partner.
Friendly fire, it seems, is not just restricted to just government policy in Pakistan.