The
Indian Air Force (IAF) reiterated on Friday that one of its MiG-21 Bison aircraft had shot down an F-16 fighter aircraft during an aerial engagement with
Pakistan Air Force (PAF) in Nowshera sector of Jammu & Kashmir on February 27, rebutting suggestions to the contrary by American news publication Foreign Policy.
The publication had claimed that US officials recently counted Pakistan’s F-16s and found none missing.
“Indian forces have confirmed sighting ejections at two different places on that day. The two sightings were at places separated by at least 8-10 km. One was an IAF MiG-21 Bison and the other a PAF aircraft. Electronic signatures gathered by us indicate that the PAF aircraft was a F-16,” the IAF said in a statement.
IAF officials told ET that a Pakistani fighter aircraft of a particular ‘call sign’ went missing after IAF’s Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman shot it down using his MiG-21 Bison jet during the dogfight with the PAF that day. They said the Pakistani aircraft was an F-16 and enemy radio transmissions which were monitored showed that it did not return to its base. The aircraft was not responding to radio transmission calls either, indicating that it had been shot down by Varthaman, they said.
The IAF has electronic signatures presented by its Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS) aircraft which show that F-16s were used by Pakistan on February 27. Importantly, the F-16 which was shot down, disappeared within eight to 10 seconds after Varthaman fired at it, said one official.
The IAF also has radio intercepts of the Pakistan military picked up by the
Indian Army, which point to two pilots bailing out and then being caught by the Pakistan military. Significantly, the media wing of the
Pakistan Armed Forces, the
Inter-Services Public Relations, initially claimed that two aircraft of India had been shot down and one pilot was captured while the other was hospitalised.