Pakistan used JF-17 jets in downing Indian warplanes – Report

A Pakistani JF-17 thunder jet, Image Credit: Shimin Gu/Wikimedia

Pakistan may have used JF-17 fighter planes in downing Indian jets last week, media accounts suggested amid reports that Washington wanted to know if Pakistan Air Force used American F-16s.

Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper and CNN report that Islamabad might have used JF-17 jets, it has produced with the assistance of China.

“According to some reports, It may have been one of those jets that on Wednesday downed an Indian Air Force fighter plane, leading to the capture by Pakistan of an Indian pilot,” a CNN report said commenting on the ongoing standoff between two South Asian nuclear-armed neighbors over the disputed Kashmir region.

The tensions between the two longtime rivals have been soaring since a February 14 militant attack on a convoy of Indian security personnel in Jammu and Kashmir region – recognized as disputed territory and partly controlled by both. At least 40 personnel were killed in Pulwama, which India blamed on Pakistan-based militant group Jaish e Mohammad.

In revenge, New Delhi sent 12 warplanes into Pakistan and claimed it had hit a training camp of JeM in Balakot, Khyber Pakhtunkhawa province of Pakistan outside of Kashmir.

After downing the Indian jets, Islamabad later freed the captured Indian pilot but the international media and India’s backers have been stunned with New Delhi’s embarrassing loss and dubious claims that it actually targeted a training camp on Pakistani territory.

According to the CNN report, the jet that India used in the dogfight against Pakistan near the Line of Control in Kashmir was a MiG-21.

“A Soviet-designed aircraft, it has been in service since the 1960s, and the Indian Air Force still says it “forms the backbone” of its fleet with about 200 in inventory.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. embassy in Islamabad said it is looking into the report that Pakistan used F-16 fighter jets in downing the Indian warplane.

The U.S. supplied Pakistan F-16 jets for counterterrorism operations on subsidized rates as a major non-NATO ally. However, it is not clear if the end user agreement strictly bars Islamabad from using the fighter jets in a conflict.