Pakistan reiterates India didn’t shoot down F-16 in Feb 2019

Pakistan on Tuesday rejected as "baseless" that a Pakistani F-16 aircraft was shot down by an Indian pilot during an aerial combat in February 2019.Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman (now G

Pakistan on Tuesday rejected as "baseless" that a Pakistani F-16 aircraft was shot down by an Indian pilot during an aerial combat in February 2019.

Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman (now Group Captain) who shot down a Pakistani jet during an aerial combat before his MiG 21 Bison aircraft was hit on February 27, 2019, was conferred with the Vir Chakra award by President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday for displaying an "exceptional sense of duty" in the dogfight. Vir Chakra is India's third-highest wartime gallantry award after Param Vir Chakra and Maha Vir Chakra.

The citation read out at the ceremony said several Pakistan Air Force fighter aircraft, consisting of advanced fourth-generation F-16 and JF-17, were detected heading toward the Line of Control (LoC) around 9:55 a.m. that day. Wing Commander Varthaman then pursued a retreating enemy fighter bomber aircraft, and in the ensuing aerial combat, shot down an F-16 aircraft with his onboard missile, it noted.