Daijiworld Media Network – Washington (AM)

Washington, Apr 5: According to a report in a prominent American magazine, a US count of the F-16s with Pakistan has found that none of them are ‘missing’ and all the fighter planes were ‘present and accounted for’.

India had claimed that its air force had shot down an F-16 fighter jet during an aerial dogfight on February 27. The finding by the US on the ground in Pakistan ‘directly contradicts’ India's claim.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) on February 28 displayed pieces of the AMRAAM missile, fired by a Pakistani F-16, as evidence to ‘conclusively’ prove that Pakistan deployed US-manufactured F-16 fighter jets during an aerial raid targeting Indian military installations in Kashmir. Pakistan had categorically said that no F-16 fighter jets were used and denied that one of its planes had been downed by the IAF.

According to the magazine, 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 finalised.

Lara Seligman of the magazine reported on Thursday that a US count of Pakistan's F-16 fleet has found that all the jets are present and accounted for, a direct contradiction to India's claim that it shot down one of the fighter jets during a February clash.

The count of the F-16 fighter planes in Pakistan has been completed, and "all aircraft were present and accounted for," an unnamed defence official was quoted as saying by the magazine.

It may be recalled, tensions between India and Pakistan escalated after the suicide bomber of JeM killed 40 CRPF personnel in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14. Soon after, India launched a counter-terror operation against a JeM training camp in Balakot. The next day, Pakistan Air Force retaliated and downed a MiG-21 in an aerial combat and captured its pilot, who was handed over to India on March 1.