Indian media quoted sources saying that New Delhi appeared to have shot down a Pakistani F-16 fighter jet.
NDTV on May 8 quoted a well-informed source saying that an F-16 fighter jet of the Pakistan Air Force was shot down in the evening by an Indian air defense missile system.
According to the source, the F-16 took off from Sargodha Air Base in Pakistan, one of the main bases of the Pakistan Air Force. The source said that the Indian surface-to-air missile system shot down the aircraft near the Sargodha base.
Sargodha is Pakistan’s most heavily guarded and forward base, located in Punjab province.
Pakistan has not commented on the information provided by Indian media.
This is the first time since 1971 that tensions between India and Pakistan have escalated on such a wide scale.
In the early morning of May 7, the Indian military launched a precision airstrike campaign called Sindoor to neutralize facilities that they said were terrorist bases and were the planning and command centers for the attack on India.
India has previously accused Pakistan of being behind the attack on civilians in the New Delhi-controlled part of Kashmir. However, Pakistan has repeatedly denied this information.
After the Indian attack, Pakistani fighter jets attempted to intercept it. According to a Pakistani security source, the dogfight between Pakistani and Indian aircraft was one of the “largest and longest air battles in recent aviation history”.
The Pakistani military announced that it had shot down five Indian fighter jets, including three French-made Rafale fighters, one Su-30 fighter and one Russian-made MiG-29.
The Indian Embassy in China later refuted a post on social media X by Chinese newspaper Global Times that claimed Pakistan had shot down an Indian fighter jet. The Indian Embassy called it “misinformation”.
The F-16 is a fourth-generation multirole fighter capable of performing a wide range of missions, including ground attack, close air support and interception of enemy aircraft.
It has multi-role capabilities, good maneuverability, a maximum speed of nearly 1,900 km/h, allowing it to perform air-to-air, ground attack and reconnaissance missions. This aircraft integrates advanced avionics systems, including radar to help identify targets and improve situational awareness.
