Washington : According to a report in a prominent American magazine, quoted by Economic Times India, 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".
The finding by the US on the ground in Pakistan "directly contradicts" India's claim that its air force shot down an F-16 fighter jet during an aerial dogfight on February 27. The Indian Air Force on February 28 displayed pieces of the AMRAAM missile, fired by a Pakistani F-16 for which they say that India has surely shot down Pakistani state of the art F-16 fighter jet.
According to the Foreign Policy 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 finalized.
"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," Lara Seligman of the magazine reported on Thursday.
Pakistan had claimed to shot down two Indian fighter jets and claimed to capture one of the pilot which was released back as a good will gesture to India afterwards.
Escalations between Indian and Pakistan started after India attack on Pakistan's so called terrorist attack.