Indian claim of downing Pakistan’s F-16 jet falls flat after U.S. count

India’s claims of shooting down a Pakistani F-16 fighter jet in an aerial battle in Kashmir during the February have been exposed as lies after US Defense officials found in their count none of the Pakistani warplanes has gone missing.

A Foreign Policy Magazine article cites U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the situation as telling the publication that that American personnel recently counted Islamabad’s F-16s and found it none had been lost.

After a dangerous dogfight along the Line of Control in the disputed Kashmir territory, claims of Indian civil and military leadership appeared told their people that Indian air force had shot down a Pakistani F-16 warplane as they faced the embarrassing loss of an Indian jet and Pakistan’s capture of the pilot.

Now, the Foreign Policy magazine’s revelation of the account by U.S. authorities on the ground in Pakistan negates New Delhi’s version of events.

The contradiction of New Delhi’s claims suggests that Indian authorities may have misled the international community about what happened that day.

International analysts also believe that the nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi – who is facing a tough reelection competition – tried to twist the facts and used the February 27 dogfight to win over political support. India’s opposition parties too have accused Modi of exaggerating the event to get political mileage.

Pakistanis officials said they had shot down two Indian aircraft. Islamabad also captured and later returned Indian pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman – a move which PM Imran Khan called a peace gesture.

PAF F-16s in 2010 Credit: USAF/Wikimedia

Authored by magazine’s Pentagon Correspondent Lara Seligman, the Foreign Policy article says it is possible that in the heat of combat, Varthaman, flying a vintage MiG-21 Bison, got a lock on the Pakistani F-16, fired, and genuinely believed he scored a hit.

However, the assessment of the Feb 27 events by concerned U.S. officials, confirmed that no Pakistani aircraft was hit.

They also concluded that Pakistan did use F-16s that day. Pakistan military spokesperson, Major General Asif Ghafoor, in an interview has confirmed that all Pakistani jets were airborne during fight with India.

On the question of Pakistan’s violation of end-user agreement with U.S., the Pentagon official told Seligman that the agreement did not involve any terms limiting the use of the F-16s.

“It would be incredibly naïve for us to believe that we could sell some type of equipment to Pakistan that they would not intend to use in a fight,” the official said.

Pakistan itself invited the U.S. to count the planes after the incident as part of an end-user agreement signed when the foreign military sale was finalized, the report says

Under the sale agreements, the United States requires the receiving country to allow American officials to inspect the equipment regularly to ensure it is accounted for and protected, according to the report

Meanwhile, terming the revelation damaging for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Vipin Narang, an associate professor of political science at MIT, said the way the events have unfolded may affect India’s efforts to deter Pakistan in the future.

“As details come out, it looks worse and worse for the Indians,” Narang said. “It looks increasingly like India failed to impose significant costs on Pakistan, but lost a plane and a helicopter of its own in the process.”

In Pakistan, Director General of ISPR, the media wing of Pakistan’s armed forces, Major General Asif Ghafoor has termed the report as the victory of the truth.