Rejecting the US report that claimed it counted the F-16s in the fleet of Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and found none missing, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said that the Foreign Policy reporter should check the facts of the case.
“There was electronic signature of F-16. Besides, a joint press conference by all the three wings of the defence had showed the part of AM-RAAM missile, which is used only with F-16. So how this part was found in India if Pakistan did not use F-16 against India. Our MiG-21 pilot had shot down one F-16. Foreign Policy magazine reporter should check all these facts,” she said at a press conference in Vadodara. She was in this central Gujarat city for campaigning.
Foreign Policy quoted one of the senior US defence officials with direct knowledge of the count as saying Pakistan invited the US to physically count its F-16 planes after the incident as part of an end-user agreement signed when the foreign military sale was finalised. The Indian Air Force has already rubbished the report.
IAF officers with knowledge of the situation said on condition of anonymity that the air force had enough evidence in the form of airborne warning and control system (AWACS) radar images, radio-telephony intercepts of the PAF F-16 strike package and ground wireless intercepts to establish that an F-16 was shot down that day. This evidence has not been shared with the US.