On Thursday, India at a joint briefing presented parts of an AMRAAM missile which was fired by Pakistani F-16 jets at military installations in Jammu and Kashmir Rajouri to retaliate Islamabad claim that it had not used F-16 jets in its aerial strike yesterday. The ruins are crucial evidence to establish that Pakistan made use of offensive F-16 jets.
The unusual briefing which was conducted against the backgroung of the Defence Ministry at Raisina Hill, was addressed by senior officers of the three services-Army, Navy and Air Force. The briefing was more of an effort to call out Pakistan on its retaliatory strike. It was to assure Pakistan that the defence forces were prepared to meet any eventuality.
They also had a message for Pakistan in their briefing, "If they provoke us any further, we are prepared for exigencies”, said Army Maj Gen SS Mahal. "There is enough evidence to show that F-16s were used in this mission and Pakistan is trying to hide this fact. Also, parts of AMRAAM Air to Air Missile which is carried only on the F-16s in PAF were recovered East of Rajouri within the Indian territory”, the IAF said.
The air force said that this was one amonst the many factually incorrect statements issued by Pakistan after its fighter jets violated Indian airspace in an effort to target military installations. “Pakistan claimed that they intentionally dropped weapons in open space where there was no human presence or military posts. The fact is that the PAF aircraft targeted military installations”, higlighted the IAF.