Agencies
The United States government has declined to share with India information on the use of F-16 fighter jets by the Pakistan Air Force during a recent dogfight, reported the Indian Express.
“Soon after we were informed by the Indian side about Pakistan using F-16 aircraft on February 27, we informed the Indians that we will not be sharing any information on the subject as it is a bilateral matter between the US and Pakistan,” a US official told The Sunday Express on condition of anonymity.
The official said that India understood the US position, which was not India or Pakistan-specific. “If a third country tomorrow wants information about the C130 or C17 or Apaches that the IAF uses, our answer would be the same. It is a bilateral matter between India and the US,” the official added.
The Indian Air Force had complained to the Pentagon in March that Pakistan had violated the end-user agreement on F-16 by using the jets for offensive against India. The IAF also displayed parts of an AMRAAM beyond visual range air-to-air missile to prove its claim that Pakistan deployed US-made F-16 fighter jets during the Feb 27 dogfight with its planes.
Pakistan, however, rejected the Indian claims.
Recently, the Foreign Policy reported that one of the unnamed senior US defence officials “with direct knowledge of the count” said that Pakistan had invited the US to count its F-16 planes after the incident “as part of an end-user agreement signed when the foreign military sale was finalised”.
Foreign Policy added that Washington generally requires countries it strikes such agreements with to allow US officials to inspect equipment on a regular basis and to ensure that it is accounted for and safe.
The official explained that some of the aircraft were not immediately available for inspection after the Pak-India back-and-forth, so it took US personnel a few weeks to account for all the jets.