ISLAMABAD – A top expert with the Chinese defence forces has claimed itwasn’t Pakistan Air Force’s (PAF) US-made F-16 that shot down India’sMiG-21 Bison during last month’s dogfight when the two air forces hadscrambled jets along the Line of Control (LoC).
Professor Jin Yinan from the National Defence University (NDU) of the PLA(People’s Liberation Army) hints – without actually saying so – that itcould have been a China-built jet, possibly the jointly built JF-17 fighteraircraft, which shot down India’s jet.
Jin also argued that it wasn’t a surface-to-air missile that hit the MiG-21Bison but an air-to-air projectile.
Jin’s interview was first published earlier this month on a Chinese websiterun by the PLA where he attempted to counter the narrative that it was anF-16, which shot down the Indian aircraft.
Jin, a retired general and an author, was a director of the strategicresearch institute at the NDU.
“Expert: Who shot down India’s MiG-21 in India-Pakistan air battle?” wasthe headline of the English version of the interview.
The Chinese expert’s reasoning comes against the backdrop of Beijing’sannouncement that it had, along with Islamabad, started upgrading the JF-17fighter jet.
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“The development and production of the JF-17 Block 3 are underway,” YangWei, a Chinese legislator and chief designer of the China-Pakistanco-developed fighter jet, was quoted as saying by the state media.
A day after Pakistan retaliated the Indian Air Force’s air strikes, theIndian armed forces, in a rare tri-service press conference, had displayedparts of an AIM-120 AMRAAM (Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile) firedby an F-16, which fell in Indian territory.
New Delhi had also underlined that electronic signatures captured byIndian radars had established the use of F-16 for the offensive.
Soon after, the US State Department had announced it was seeking moreinformation from Pakistan on the potential misuse of American-made F-16jets against India in violation of the end-user agreement.
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