Amid escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, the Indian Air Force has shot down a Pakistan Air Force F-16 and two JF-17 aircraft after Pakistan attempted to strike multiple locations in Jammu and Punjab, government sources said.
Earlier on Thursday, Pakistan tried to target several sites in India, but Indian air-defence guns brought down the intruding drones.
India also destroyed a Pakistani Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft over Punjab Province; it crashed inside Pakistani territory, the sources added.
Meanwhile, drone attacks were foiled in Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur district and in Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer, and another drone was downed over Akhnoor. Two ‘kamikaze’ drones were likewise intercepted and destroyed in Poonch.
According to the sources, an Indian surface-to-air missile (SAM) shot down the F-16 near the Sargodha air base.
The F-16, manufactured by Lockheed Martin and supplied to Pakistan in the late 1980s, remains one of the country’s primary fighter jets. The JF-17 is another frontline aircraft in the Pakistan Air Force and was similarly engaged. F-16s were used during Pakistan’s response to India’s Balakot air-strikes in 2019.
Late on Thursday, Pakistan also launched a missile strike towards Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer region, prompting a swift response from India’s air-defence network. Systems in the area were fully activated, intercepting and destroying more than 70 missiles in mid-air and preventing damage on the ground, the sources said.
