US count found no Pakistani F-16s missing
A recently conducted American count of Pakistan’s F-16 fighter jets finds none missing, a top news magazine reports, citing two unnamed “senior US defence officials with direct knowledge of the situation”.
The Foreign Policy magazine has claimed this information “directly contradict[s] the account of Indian Air Force officials”, that an Indian pilot, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, brought down one of the US-made jets during a dogfight in February.
According to the magazine: “One of the senior US defense officials…said that Pakistan invited the United States to physically count its F-16 planes after the incident as part of an end-user agreement signed when the foreign military sale was finalized”.
The report also claims it was possible that “in the heat of combat”, Abhinandan Varthaman “got a lock on the Pakistani F-16, fired, and genuinely believed he scored a hit”.
– Foreign Policy magazine report | April 4, 2019
“India’s claim that one of its fighter pilots shot down a Pakistani F-16 fighter jet in an aerial battle between the two nuclear powers in February appears to be wrong. Two senior US defense officials with direct knowledge of the situation told Foreign Policy that US personnel recently counted Islamabad’s F-16s and found none missing.”
The report has categorically slammed Indian claim that it shot down one Pakistani F-16 during the aerial face-off between India and Pakistan took place on February 27, a day after Indian warplanes flew into Pakistan to strike alleged terrorist training camp.
India later dramatically pointed to the recovery of AMRAAM missile parts to reinforce its argument that Pakistan used F-16s. India also claimed that Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman who was captured by Pakistan after shooting down his plane, the Air Force pilot who was captured during the dogfight, had shot down the F-16.
Pakistan has categorically denied that it had never used F-16s in the dogfight.
Foreign Policy also added that Washington generally requires countries it strikes such agreements to allow US officials to inspect equipment on a regular basis and to ensure that it is accounted for and safe.
Foreign Policy further reports that the official has also 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. When the count was finally conducted all the F-16s employed by the PAF were accounted for.
Associate professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Vipin Narang has told FP that although the news likely won’t affect Indian voters, it may affect Delhi’s dealings with Pakistan in the future.
Narang said, “As details come out, it looks worse and worse for the Indians. 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.”
