The IAF on Monday reiterated that it had shot down a Pakistan Air Force (PAF) F-16 on February 27 during an aerial duel in Naushera sector and said it has more credible evidence that is clearly indicative of the fact that Pakistan had lost one F-16 that day. “However, due to security and confidentiality concerns, we are restricting the information being shared in the public domain,” the IAF said.

This assertion here by Air Vice Marshal RG Kapoor, assistant chief of operations and space, came three days after the IAF held an off-the-camera briefing to negate some US reports claiming all the F-16s of Pakistan were accounted for and the Indian version of shooting down a F-16 was not correct.

While briefing mediapersons on record for the first time, Kapoor said not only the IAF has irrefutable evidence that F-16 was used by PAF on Feb 27 but also the MiG-21 Bison piloted by Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman shot down a PAF F-16.

“There is no doubt that two aircraft went down in the aerial engagement on February 27, one was the Bison (MiG 21) of the IAF and the other was a F-16 of PAF, conclusively identified by its electronic signature and radio transcripts,” he said. The senior officers, however, did not take any questions from the media.

In an effort to back the assertion of shooting down the F-16, the IAF also shared its radar images about the aerial duel between Varthaman and the F-16 that day with print and electronic media for the first time. The radar images also showed Varthaman locking in on the F-16 and seconds

later the F-16 signature disappears from the radar screen

indicating it was hit, Kapoor added.

Sharing some slides and maps for reference, Kapoor said the PAF aircraft had fired multiple AMRAAM missiles and the IAF had used counter measures and tactical manoeuvres. In the aerial combat that ensued Varthaman flying Mig-21 shot down F-16. As shown in the radar images, the F-16 crashed and fell across the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir(POK), he said.

The IAF lost one MIG-21 and pilot Varthaman ejected safely but his parachute drifted into POK where he was taken into custody by the Pakistan Army, he said. Incidentally, the F-16 was downed at least seven to eight kms inside POK in Sabzkot area there.

The IAF briefings in quick succession over last three days came after a fresh controversy broke out when US magazine Foreign Policy in an article last week claimed no F-16 jet was shot down during the aerial combat. A report published in the US publication on Thursday last said, “Two senior US defence officials with direct knowledge of the situation told Foreign Policy that US personnel recently counted Islamabad’s F-16s and found none missing.” However, the names of the officials were not disclosed in the report.

Rejecting the report, the IAF had then asserted that it had shot down an F-16 aircraft of the PAF. Briefing media on Friday last, the IAF sources had also said radio communication of PAF intercepted by the IAF confirmed that one of the F-16s that attacked India on February 27 in retaliation against IAF air strikes in Balakot a day earlier did not return to its base in Pakistan.

In a statement last week, the IAF said after its attack on the terrorist camp in Balakot on February 26, PAF attempted a riposte on February 27, 2019. A large force of PAF F-16s, JF-17s and Mirage III/V aircraft were picked up by IAF radars. They were intercepted by IAF Su-30MKI, Mirage-2000 and Mig-21 Bison fighters guided by ground radars and AWACS.

All attempts of PAF to attack any military targets were thwarted by the IAF. Kapoor said the Indian forces 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 PAF aircraft was an F-16.

The magazine report also said, “A US count of Pakistan’s F-16 fleet has found that all the jets are present and accounted for, a direct contradiction to India’s claim that it shot down one of the fighter jets during a February clash.”