Seven years ago, Group Captain Abhinandan Varthaman became a permanent fixture of India-Pakistan military history after the Indian Air Force claimed to have shot down a PAF F-16 by an IAF Mig-21 Bison.
The assertion was immediately controversial.
A vintage Soviet-designed fighter supposedly downing a modern fourth-generation American jet took many by surprise and even called it improbable, turning the episode into a global talking point among combat aviation enthusiasts.
Pakistan never accepted that it lost a F-16 aircraft; India, however, awarded a gallantry award to Varthaman, and his citation clearly mentioned that he shot down an F-16 with his on-board missile.
The debate was never settled, especially after India and Pakistan fought another brief war in May 2025, but on a much bigger scale, with even bigger claims and counterclaims from both sides.
Pakistan claimed it shot down six Indian fighter jets, including Rafales. India claimed that it shot down/damaged 12-14 Pakistani jets, including five “high-tech fighters between F-16 and JF-17 class,” and possibly one C-130-class aircraft.
However, as Group Captain Varthaman retires from the Indian Air Force, swapping his fighter jet for a commercial passenger plane, the F-16 debate has erupted once again.
Was a PAF F-16 actually shot down? We try to decode.
What Happened in February 2019?
On February 26, 2019, India launched airstrikes on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror facility in Balakot, Pakistan. The airstrikes were in response to the Pulwama (Kashmir) terror attack on February 14, when a JeM suicide bomber killed 40 Indian CRPF personnel.
Less than 24 hours after India’s audacious Balakot airstrike, Pakistan retaliated by attempting to strike Indian military positions.
Varthaman – then a Wing Commander with the Srinagar-based 51 Squadron – was on operational readiness duty at Air Force Station Srinagar when a large Pakistan Air Force fighter package was detected approaching the Line of Control.
Within five minutes, Varthaman was airborne.
“On 27 Feb 2019, at around 0955h, a large force of Pakistan Air Force fighter aircraft, consisting of advanced fourth-generation F-16 and JF-17, was detected heading toward the LoC. At about 1000hrs, Wing Commander Varthaman Abhinandan was scrambled to intercept this package,” as per the citation for Varthaman.
“Displaying exceptional air combat acumen and knowledge of the enemy’s tactics, Wing Commander Varthaman Abhinandan scanned the low-altitude airspace with his Airborne Intercept (AI) radar and picked up an enemy aircraft that was flying low to ambush the Indian fighter interceptor aircraft.”
Varthaman’s “audacious and aggressive maneuver forced the enemy aircraft into tactical chaos.”
“Wing Commander Varthaman Abhinandan then pursued a retreating enemy fighter-bomber aircraft, and in the ensuing aerial combat, shot down an F-16 aircraft with his on-board missile. However, in the melee, one of the enemy aircraft fired multiple advanced BVR missiles, one of which hit his aircraft, forcing him to eject in enemy territory.”
The encounter was hailed by the IAF as the first instance of a MiG-21 Bison shooting down an F-16.
Islamabad, however, rejected Indian claims and said that no Pakistani Air Force fighter jet was shot down that day.
The Evidence Supporting Indian Claims
On 8 April 2019, the Indian Air Force held a media briefing in New Delhi and publicly released redacted AWACS (Phalcon) radar tracks from the 27 February 2019 aerial engagement.
Air Vice Marshal R.G.K. Kapoor presented two frames captured seconds apart. The first showed tracks of Pakistani aircraft, identified by electronic signature as F-16s, opposite Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman’s MiG-21 Bison.
The second frame showed one of those Pakistani tracks disappearing.
The IAF described this as “irrefutable evidence” that the MiG-21 Bison shot down a PAF F-16, which it said crashed across the LoC in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
The briefing also cited Electronic intelligence (ELINT) intercepts and radio transcripts indicating F-16s were directly in front of Abhinandan’s aircraft.
Besides, the Indian Army also cited visual sightings of two separate parachutes, one from the MiG-21 and the second allegedly from the Pakistani F-16.
However, the strongest evidence for the F-16 being shot down did not come from India but from Pakistan itself.
On the same day of the engagement, February 27, 2019, two senior Pakistani officials confirmed that more than one Indian pilot was in custody.
First, Major Gen Asif Ghafoor, DG ISPR, said that one pilot has been arrested and “two in the area.”
DG ISPR also tweeted this.
In response to PAF strikes this morning as released by MoFA, IAF crossed LOC. PAF shot down two Indian aircrafts inside Pakistani airspace. One of the aircraft fell inside AJ&K while other fell inside IOK. One Indian pilot arrested by troops on ground while two in the area.
— DG ISPR (@OfficialDGISPR) February 27, 2019
In the subsequent press conference, he said, “Our ground forces arrested two pilots; one of them was injured and has been shifted to CMH… The other one is with us.”
Later, Pakistan completely changed the story and tweeted that only one pilot is currently in the custody of the Pakistan Army.
There is only one pilot under Pakistan Army’s custody. Wing Comd Abhi Nandan is being treated as per norms of military ethics. pic.twitter.com/8IQ5BPhLj2
— DG ISPR (@OfficialDGISPR) February 27, 2019
More importantly, even Prime Minister Imran Khan confirmed this. He said two Indian MiGs had been shot down and that “(their) pilots are with us.”
In the fog of war, it is quite common for militaries to make claims that they have shot down multiple aircraft. However, it is not common for a military to claim it captured pilots and later prove it wrong.
During an aerial shootdown, parts of an aircraft could fall over a large area. Because of this, it is common to initially believe that more than one fighter jet has been shot down.
For instance, Royal Air Force claims in the Battle of Britain were far above recorded Luftwaffe losses.
Similarly, US and Japanese claims in the Pacific were often several times actual losses.
That is the classic fog-of-war pattern: many claimed victories, fewer real wrecks.
However, one would be hard-pressed to find examples where a military claimed capture of an enemy fighter pilot, which they later had to retract.
What makes it even more suspicious is that the confirmation did not come from a junior-level official, but from the highest echelons of the Pakistani military establishment, none other than the DG ISPR.
He made the claim not once but twice, and even posted it on Twitter.
DG ISPR would not have made this claim unless he had received confirmation from senior-level officials present on the ground.
The most plausible explanation for this could be that the Pakistan military captured an Indian fighter pilot and one of their own fighter pilot, who ejected from an F-16 shot down by Group Captain Abhinandan Varthaman.
Pakistani military officials likely mistook him for an Indian fighter pilot, but later found that he was one of their own.
When fighter pilots eject in enemy territory, they often claim they are from the same country to deceive the local population. It is plausible that when the Pakistani pilot claimed he was from the Pakistan Air Force, he was not initially believed.
When analyzed in conjunction with the radar signals, electronic intelligence (ELINT) intercepts, and radio transcripts presented by the IAF, it indeed seems more plausible that a Pakistani fighter jet, F-16, was also shot down.
However, Pakistan outrightly rejects that any of its jets were shot down and, without concrete evidence, aircraft debris, supporting video/images, or even open-source confirmation, this cannot be proved.
Meanwhile, the 2019 Foreign Policy report, citing US officials, said a physical count found all Pakistan’s F-16s present. The Pentagon later refused to publicly confirm that count. That is still the main international obstacle to the Indian kill claim.
Starfighter Story, All Over Again?
Interestingly, there is an important precedent here.
During the 1965 India-Pakistan war, Islamabad acknowledged on September 7 that it lost a F-104 Starfighter to enemy action.
Pakistani version is that PAF Flight Lieutenant Amjad Hussain’s F-104 was hit by IAF Mystère cannon fire. The Mystère exploded. The F-104 flew through the debris, the controls froze, and Hussain ejected.
So, Pakistan claimed that the F-104 was lost due to a collision with debris from an IAF fighter jet.
However, British writer John Fricker’s Battle for Pakistan (published in 1979) said the Mystère pilot showed “commendable courage,” stayed with the F-104, and scored several cannon strikes on the Starfighter before Hussain ejected.
Notably, the book was written with PAF access.
Despite this, Pakistan has never accepted that its F-104 Starfighter was shot down by the IAF.
Islamabad did not hide the hull loss. It acknowledged that a Starfighter had been lost to enemy action that day, but it did not accept the Indian version.
Even in the May 2025 clash, India claimed to have destroyed 12-14 Pakistan military aircraft, including a “record kill” by S-400 by shooting down a PAF aircraft 314 km away.
Islamabad again rejected all Indian claims, but its casualty figures on the Pakistani side, with at-least 5 PAF servicemen killed, including a Squadron Leader, present a different picture.
- Sumit Ahlawat has over a decade of experience in news media. He has worked with Press Trust of India, Times Now, Zee News, Economic Times, and Microsoft News. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Media and Modern History from the University of Sheffield, UK.
- He can be reached at ahlawat.sumit85 (at) gmail.com
