Two years ago on February 26th 2019, the Indian Air Force (IAF) conducted an airstrike in Balakot.
After the Indian Air Force strike on a JeM terrorist camp in Pakistan the world has witnessed a high voltage aerial skirmish the next day between the Indian & Pakistani airforces. The IAF fought back with grit and determination against a much larger PAF F-16 OCA.
The Pakistan Air Force chosen to hit back at India in a quid pro response. On February 27, Pakistan launched offensive operation Swift Retort involving 12 F-16s, 12 JF-17 and 4 Mirage jets plus reserves. The PAF handpicked its best fighter pilots for Op Swift Retort. The PAF’s ‘best of the best’ ready to attack the regular rostered crews from the IAF in Jammu & Kashmir.
Between 0950-1015h, 2 x Su30MKI dueled with 8 x F16MLU of PAF. We will take you through the minute by minute chronology of events witnessed during the skirmish.
9:52 AM: Indian Air Force's Netra AEW&C detects 10 F-16s taking off three airbases in Pakistan. The F-16s initially flown in three separate formations and later merged into a single formation after entering Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
9:54 AM: Indian Air Force retaliated with MiG 21 Bisons, Sukhoi Su-30MKIs and Mirage 2000s being scrambled to intercept the incoming Pakistani fighter jets.
9.58 AM: India alerted and sent message to the Pakistani jets to go back.
9.59 AM: As per protocol, India sounds second alert and sent another message to the Pakistani jets to go back.
10:00 AM: The Pakistan Air Force fighter jets entered Indian airspace.
10:01 AM: Indian Air Force jets responded and engaged the F-16s. The F-16s were targeted by surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) which forced nine PAF F-16s to return after intruding just a kilometer into Indian territory.
10:02 AM: One F-16 manages to enter deep inside Indian territory. The jet tried to target an oil depot and an ammunition point in a military zone and tries to attack an Indian Army brigade headquarters.
10:03 AM: One Indian Air Force Sukhoi Su-30 and one MiG-21 Bison engaged Pakistani F-16 in a dogfight maneuver called "defensive split". The two Indian jets trap the Pakistani jet in between them. The MiG 21 was flying in the front while the Su-30 was chasing it from behind, firing at it. The F-16 was forced to flee using a dog fight maneuver called "wingover".
10:04 AM: The Su-30 stops chasing the F-16 and hovers around the oil field in order to guard it. The MiG-21 Bison, being flown by Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, gives the F-16 chase. The F-16 is flying out of territory and Wing Commander Abhinandan 'locks' F-16 with an R-73 air-to-air missile.
10:08 AM: Wing Commander Abhinandan fires his R73 missile and successfully hits the F-16, bringing it down. Abhinandan performs a dangerous manoeuvre called "high-g barrel roll". About 45–50 seconds after his R-73 launch and about 7 km inside POK, the MiG-21 was hit by an AMRAAM fired by a PAF F-16.
Abhinandan ejected from the MIG-21 Bison and parachuted safely, landing 4 km away from the LoC in POK. He was brutally attacked by civilians, before being dramatically handed over to the Pakistan Army.
Evidence#1
Immediately after the 27 Feb 19 clash, Major General Asif Ghafoor who is the Director-General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) tweeted that two Indian jets had been shot down by the PAF in POK, with one pilot arrested by the Pak army and two still in the area.
An hour after his first tweet, Maj Gen Ghafoor said that “Our ground forces arrested two pilots; one of them was injured and has been shifted to CMH (Combined Military Hospital) and, God-willing, he will be taken care of,”. He reiterated that “The Doosra Banda (second pilot) is with us.” and assured that no F-16 of the PAF had been shot down, since the F-16s were ‘NOT’ used in combat.
He later said that second pilot died in CMH hospital. Again in the evening he confirmed that there was only pilot under Pakistani Army's custody.
Now the question is who was Doosra Banda?
The second pilot was from PAF who was shot down by IAF's Mig-21 Bison. He probably had sustained post ejection injuries or manhandled by civilians in a similar manner to Abhinandan.
Evidence#2
The IAF’s Phalcon AWACS, had adequate radar pick up on the aerial engagement. It identified F-16, JF-17 and Mirage IIIs as part of the Op Swift Retort PAF aircraft package. This radar data proves beyond doubt — that F-16s were operating against India that day — exposing the lies and contradictions of the DG ISPR, Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor.
Evidence#3
The remains of the AMRAAM missile was found in Naoshera sector by the Indian military. AMRAAM missiles can only be fired by F-16s in the PAF inventory.
Evidence#4
The F-16 ‘kill’ was captured by the Phalcon’s radar and the blip vanishing from the radar scope was clearly noticeable. The same is confirmed by a Thales GS-100 Low Level Targeting Radar (LLTR) deployed in that area.
