By: Talat Mohsin
On Airforce Day, IAF debunked Pakistan’s claim of shooting down Sukhoi-30MKI by making it fly with the other aircrafts today. Pakistan, had claimed that it had shot down the aircraft in the air battle on February 27, a day after Indian jets had bombed Balakot to attack the terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed.
Not only this, the aircraft, whose call name is Avenger 1, was piloted by the same two man crew who flew the Sukhoi-30MKI on the day of the battle. The IAF has said that Pakistan claims were a way to hide the loss it suffered by the destruction of its own American made F-16 which wing commander Abhinandan Vartaman had shot down before getting shot down. The wing commander was awarded the Veer Chakra for shooting down the F-16.
The Avenger1 aircraft flew in the Avenger formation. In the formation three nimble french origin Mirage-2000 flanked by two larger Sukhoi-30MKI, the extreme Sukhoi being the “Avenger1”.
Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria acknowledged the crowd today at the Hindon Airforce Station by saying-“We acknowledge the contributions of all personnel of commands, stations and units who silently and professionally contribute to the success of the airstrikes on the terrorist camps at Balakot earlier this year.”