SRINAGAR: In a joint press conference of the top service officers, India said they have irrefutable evidence that Pakistan used an F-16 and lost it. The IAF was represented by Air Vice Marshal RGK Kapoor.
At the end of the brief news conference, the Vice Air Marshal said they have recovered pieces of a missile in east of Rajouri that can be fired only from an F-16.
The missile that is fired from air to air is called AMRAAM missile and Pakistan has only one warplane that can use it, Kapoor said.
Pakistan had earlier denied deploying any F-16 in the Wednesday operation that led to a dog fight in which a MiG was hit and its pilot was captured by Pakistan.
The Vice Air Marshal said that there are photographic evidences suggesting that some pieces of engines and other things were scattered on the Pakistani side of the LoC. “These pieces do not belong to the MiG that crashed,” he insisted.
He said an F-16 was shot down by an IAF MiG 21 Bison Aircraft and it fell on the Pakistani side. East of Rajouri, parts of F-16 were recovered, he said. Offering brief details about the operation, Kapoor said IAF fighters were tasked to intercept the intruding Pakistani aircraft and managed to thwart them. Although PAF jets dropped bombs, they were not able to cause any damage, he said, insisting the targets were the military installations.
Responding to a few questions about the bombing on JeM camps in Balakot, Vice Marshal RGK Kapoor said that it is premature to say the number of casualties on the camp. “Whatever we intended to destroy we got that result,” he asserted. “We have evidence to show that whatever we wanted to do and targets we wanted to destroy, we have done that. The decision to show the evidence is on senior leadership.”
IAF vice marshal said the IAF is happy that Wing Commander Abhinandan is returning home. “We are happy that our pilot who had fallen across the Line of Control and was in custody of Pakistan is being released, we’re extremely happy to have him back. We only see it as a gesture which is in consonance with all Geneva conventions,” Vice Marshal said.
Pakistan had claimed that they have hit two Indian warplanes and denied the F-16 was part of the operation in the Rajouri belt. Initially, Pakistan said they have arrested one IAF pilot and another is in hospital. Later, he corrects that they have only one pilot, Abhinandan.
