scorecardresearch
Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Support Our Journalism
HomeDefencePakistan exposed as it releases image of F-16 hit by IAF after...

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

Along with debris of India's MiG-21 Bison, which crashed in PoK, the Pakistan military's publicity wing also put out a picture of the engine casing of an F-16.

Follow Us :
Text Size:

New Delhi: On Wednesday, the Pakistani military’s publicity wing ISPR released pictures of India’s crashed MiG-21 Bison fighter aircraft to support its claim that the Pakistan Air Force had got the better of the Indian Air Force.

But turns out that in its rush to win the information battle, ISPR also released an image of the debris from its own F-16 fighter jet – an aircraft Islamabad maintained it never flew or accepted was hit by the IAF.

The following sequence of events shows how Pakistan ended up nailing its own lie.

Around 10.05 am Wednesday, three Pakistani F-16s crossed about 7 km into Indian territory and tried to target four Indian military installations. They were answered by a group of MiG-21 Bisons, which were on Combat Air Patrol (CAP).

The 1960s vintage aircraft chased the F-16s out of Indian air space and managed to shoot down one F-16. One of the Indian jets, piloted by Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, went down in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir after being shot by Pakistani forces.

Top Indian military sources had told ThePrint Wednesday that the pilot/s of the F-16 had ejected, and also went down in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir with the aircraft. But with India having no evidence except some grainy footage of a pilot ejecting, Pakistan was quick to claim that it did not use F-16s in the attack and had lost no aircraft.

On Wednesday morning, the Pakistani military spokesman had said that three Indian pilots had ejected, one of them was captured and two were still in the area.

Subsequently, Pakistan said it had captured a second Indian pilot and he was wounded and being treated in hospital.

Prime Minister Imran Khan also said in his televised address that Pakistan had shot two Indian MiGs and the pilots were in Pakistani custody. But later in the evening, Pakistan issued a statement saying it had only one Indian pilot in custody.

On the other hand, the Indian Air Force maintained through Wednesday that only one of its pilots was missing.

This leads to the belief that the other injured pilot had to be Pakistani. And if there were two others who had ejected besides Varthaman, the F-16 Varthaman shot down was possibly an F-16D which is flown by two pilots.

New videos have also surfaced showing two pilots ejecting and locals are heard saying in the background that three pilots had ejected in all.

The ISPR image of the debris nails the suspicion that a PAF F-16 had indeed been downed.

One of the pictures showed the outer casing of an engine. A closer analysis revealed that it was not a part of the MiG-21 Bison but that of the F-16, the IAF said.

While initially it was believed that Pakistan F-16s used the GE engines, GE told ThePrint that it doesn’t.

At a press conference on 28 February, Air Vice Marshal R.G.K. Kapoor produced evidence to back India’s claims that Pakistan had used F-16 fighter jets to target four military installations in Jammu & Kashmir.

He also said the Pakistan media had shown parts of the engines and drop tanks that didn’t belong to India’s downed MiG-21, which confirmed that the F-16 was shot.

The MiG-21 Bison, meanwhile, uses an R 25 engine.

“The two engines are completely different from each other, including in design terms. The picture clearly shows that the part shown in the picture belongs to the F-16 and not the Indian fighter aircraft,” a source in the defence establishment said.

Pakistan has tried to hide its losses in the past as well, especially those of fighter aircraft. In the 1971 war too, Pakistan hid its aircraft and pilot losses from its citizens.


Also read:  India tells Pakistan no deal over Wg Cdr Abhinandan, return him immediately


This report has been updated to include a statement from GE.

Subscribe to our channels on YouTube, Telegram & WhatsApp

Support Our Journalism

India needs fair, non-hyphenated and questioning journalism, packed with on-ground reporting. ThePrint – with exceptional reporters, columnists and editors – is doing just that.

Sustaining this needs support from wonderful readers like you.

Whether you live in India or overseas, you can take a paid subscription by clicking here.

Support Our Journalism

12 COMMENTS

  1. That Pak pilot news is fake, even I was shocked, I saw one video where some old mullah talking about a Sikh pilot being captured by locals & handed over to army/ Pak police, all confusion, if he was Indian pilot then why family will be silent, highly unlikely in India

  2. No f 16 even used . Pakistan dont use F 16s for a reason . You cannot trust lockhead any more . US can disable F-16’s by executing hidden segments of software not revealed to buyers . This was first identified by turkish airforce. Indeed all the f 16’s sold to all middle east countries or other countries can be deactivated by usa any time they want. The first time it happened was when turkish aireforce flew their F-16’s near greece cyprus .

  3. pakistan is a densely populated country and in this era of smartphones . There are 150,169,643 mobile phones in pakistan used. Ranked 11th in mobile phone users. i dont think you can even hide a main drainage hole in pakistan . how any body can even hide a whole jet. And how people ignore the blast sound of jet . Pakistan is no banana country . if there is a new it comes out. i dont know these people living in 66’s era think you can hide a news. Its not even possible in amazon jungle these days.

  4. It is now known that W8ng Cmdr Shahzaz Ud Din PAF 19 Sqdr was killed when the F16 he was flying was shot down 2 days ago. Enough nonsense from Pakistan Military. High time to acknowledge loss of a Brave Officer who died doing his Duty. Truth alone liberates you.

    • To your surprise, shahzaz is an unheard name in Pak. Most names are shahbaz or shahzad. You can live in your dreams, but no f16 was shot down.

    • Shahzad is an unheard name in Pak. It’s either shahbaz or shahzad.

      You can live in your dreams but no f16 was shot down

  5. Given that we have the debris of AIM missiles, it is clear that Pak used F 16 to attack India. The aircraft which went down ought to be one of the F 16s, even if some one has a different view about whether this photo shows part of MIG 21 or F 16. India has admitted that it lost one MIG 21; the issue is whether Pak lost any aircraft and if so, which one. With the showcasing of AIM parts, it is not clear that the aircraft taken down must be F 16.

  6. Mr Philip, that is NOT an engine casing but looks like the inside of a fuselage. Clutching at straws to save your PM’s ass while he bags votes on the bodies of your jawans?!

  7. Sorry to disabuse you of your theory, but that is not a compressor (engine) casing. In most accidents, the engines have been pretty much intact, even though badly damaged. There’s lots of bolts on the flanges of a engine case. For it to come completely off, would be next to impossible in an aircraft that was flying recently.

    The grid pattern is common to any reinforced light-weight metal sheet, and in fact if you notice the way the metal curves, it is clear it curves in the opposite direction than one would expect if it was part of an engine cover.

    In fact, it can be seen in other pictures that the other side of the sheet is painted, and what we are seeing is the inner surface of the external skin of the aircraft. This is almost certainly the external skin of the Mig-21 as originally claimed.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Most Popular