United States (US) officials did a count of Islamabad’s F-16 jets recently and found that none were missing, contradicting India’s claims that it shot down a Pakistani fighter jet amid heightened tensions between both countries after the Pulwama attack, a Foreign Policy report quoting two senior US defence officials said on Friday.
Following the conflict between the two countries in February, India had claimed that the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) had used the F-16 to target Indian military installations after crossing the Line of Control. As “proof”, a piece of an apparent missile was shown, which Indian media said could only have been fired by an F-16.
It also claimed that before an Indian plane was shot down and its pilot captured by Pakistani forces, an Indian Air Force (IAF) MiG Bison had shot down a PAF F-16 aircraft. Pakistan had denied the Indian claims.
New Delhi had also insisted that Pakistan’s alleged use of F-16 against India meant that Islamabad stood in violation of a sales agreement with the US. The US State Department had refused to take a position on India’s complaint against Pakistan over using F-16s in the air battle.
According to the report, one of the unnamed senior US defence officials “with direct knowledge of the count” had told Foreign Policy that Pakistan had invited the US to count its F-16 planes after the incident “as part of an end-user agreement signed when the foreign military sale was finalised”, the report said.
Foreign Policy added that Washington generally requires countries it strikes such agreements with to allow US officials to inspect equipment on a regular basis and to ensure that it is accounted for and safe.
The official explained that some of the aircraft were not immediately available for inspection after the Pak-India back-and-forth, so it took US personnel a few weeks to account for all the jets.
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An associate professor of political science at MIT, Vipin Narang, told FP that although the news likely won’t affect Indian voters, it may affect Delhi’s dealings with 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.”
