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Indian Air Force shows radar images to shoot down Pakistan's lies

India has irrefutable proof that Pakistan lost an F-16 during an aerial combat with the Indian Air Force on February 27, Air Force Vice Marshal RGK Kapoor said on Monday, putting to rest questions raised on the Balakot strike.

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India has irrefutable proof that Pakistan lost an F-16 during an aerial combat with the Indian Air Force on February 27, Air Force Vice Marshal RGK Kapoor said on Monday, putting to rest questions raised on the Balakot strike.

The IAF said one of its Mig-21 Bison aircraft, piloted by Wing Commander Abhinandan, shot down an F-16 of the Pakistan Air Force. Kapoor shared radar images of the air combat to counter Pakistan's claim that no fighter jet was downed by the IAF.

The counter also came against the backdrop of a report in a US magazine that said all the F-16 aircraft of Pakistan were intact.

Kapoor said, "On the February 16, 2019 in an intelligence-led operation, the IAF successfully struck the biggest training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in Balakot. The non-military preemptive action was specifically targeted at the JeM camp."

The next day, the Vice Marshal said, PAF tried to target military installations in India. However, their attempts were thwarted by the IAF. "In the aerial combat that followed, one Mig 21 Bison of the IAF piloted by Wing Cmdr Abhinandan shot down one F-16 of PAF." The F-16 fell across the Line of Control in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.

The IAF lost one MiG21 in the aerial dogfight and pilot Abhinandan ejected safely but his parachute drifted into Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. He was taken into custody by Pak Army before being released via Wagah border.

The Indian Army posts near LoC in the Jhangar sector under Nowshera Brigade have visually sighted two separate parachutes. "The first sighting was due West, in general area Sabazkot and the second, was after a few minutes, Southwest, general area Tandar," he claimed.

The two areas are nearly 8-10 kms apart. Radio communications intercepts of Pakistan army formations in the area also talked of the capture of at least two pilots, one them being Abhinandan and another admitted to a Pakistan military hospital.

Statements by few Pakistani officials corroborate the IAF's stand. A Pakistani army spokesperson first said "three pilots — one in custody, and two in the area". Later, he told the media that they had two pilots. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan too talked of more than two pilots. "All of these conclusively prove that a total of two aircraft had gone down that day in the same area separated by approximately 1 to 1.30 minutes," Kapoor said.

He further stressed that analysis of electronic emissions have shown that the aircraft picked up by the ELINT intercepts from AWACS and radio transcripts indicated F-16s in the area directly in front of Abhinandan's aircraft.

He said that there is no doubt that two aircraft went down in the aerial engagement on February 27, 2019, one of which was a Bison of IAF while the other was a F-16 of PAF conclusively identified by its electronic signature and radio transcripts

"The IAF has more credible information and evidence that is clearly indicative of the fact that PAF has lost one F-16 in the air action on the 27 Feb19. However due to security and confidentiality concerns, we are restricting the information being shared in the public domain," he added.

‘We Downed One F-16’

  • Vice Marshal RGK Kapoor said radar images show IAF’s MiG21 was chasing an F-16
  • The PAF jet (circled red) goes missing from radar in a gap of less than 2 mins, confirming it was downed
  • Pak too said it had two pilots (one was Abhinandan), thus admitting loss of a jet 
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