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Lockheed Martin, maker of F-16, calls out Pakistan media for fake news on suing India

Several Pakistan media outlets reported this week that Lockheed Martin was planning to sue India over its claims that a MiG-21 Bison of the IAF had shot down an F-16.

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New Delhi: American defence major Lockheed Martin, manufacturer of the F-16 fighter jet, has refuted Pakistani media reports that it is planning to sue India for claiming that one of its planes was shot down by the much-older MiG-21 Bison of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

The clarification came in the wake of multiple reports in Pakistani news outlets, also shared by a senior civil servant, about the alleged lawsuit.

The reports followed Wednesday’s dogfight along the Line of Control that saw the Indian and Pakistani air forces face off after the latter breached the border to attack Indian military installations.

During the confrontation, a Pakistani F-16 was shot down by Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman with an R-73 air-to-air missile before the Mig-21 Bison he was flying took a hit and crashed.

This was considered a ‘rarest of the rare’ kind of hit, since the 1960s vintage aircraft managed to lock-in on and hit one of the most modern aircraft in use by another country.

Various Pakistani portals, including media outlets believed to be associated closely with the Pakistani military establishment, reported earlier this week that the US defence major was miffed with India’s “false claims” about the F-16 being shot down.

The Pakistan media’s claim was also tweeted by Pakistan censor board chairman Danyal Gilani, who deleted the tweet after Lockheed Martin’s clarification.

In its tweet, Lockheed Martin tagged a number of Pakistani journalists, the country’s information and broadcasting ministry and the state-run Pakistan Television.


Also read: Wing Commander Abhinandan shot down Pakistani F-16 seconds before his plane was hit


‘Psy-op’

Defence analysts believe that the news report was yet another PsyOp — or psychological operation — being carried out by the Pakistan establishment to undermine India’s claims.

Earlier, Pakistan military spokesperson Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor had stated on the record that no F-16 fighter jet was used in the air strikes on Indian territory and that it had not lost any fighter jet.

Pakistan had released purported photographs of the debris of the MiG-21 Bison that crashed in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to support its claim, but accidentally also put out a photo of the F-16 wreckage.

Addressing a press conference the next day, Thursday, Air Vice Marshal RGK Kapoor produced evidence to back India’s claims that Pakistan had used F-16 fighter jets to target four military installations in Jammu & Kashmir.


Also read: Pakistan exposed as it releases image of F-16 hit by IAF after saying there was no damage


This is an updated version of the report

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