ugc_banner

Lockheed Martin denies Pak's claims to sue India over shooting down F-16

ANI
New Delhi, Delhi, IndiaUpdated: Mar 02, 2019, 02:24 PM IST
main img
File photo: Lockheed Martin's logo is seen during Japan Aerospace 2016 air show in Tokyo, Japan, October 12, 2016. Photograph:(Reuters)

Story highlights

The claim was made by Danyal Gilani, Director in the Information Minister's office and chairman of Pakistan’s Central Film Board in a tweet.

Lockheed Martin India has rubbished claims by a senior official in Pakistan's Information Minister's office that it was going to sue India for "wrongly claiming" that an Indian Air Force MiG-21 had shot down an F-16 in a dogfight in Kashmir.

The claim was made by Danyal Gilani, Director in the Information Minister's office and chairman of Pakistan’s Central Film Board in a tweet.

"Lockheed Martin has made no such comments," tweeted the Indian subsidiary of the United States F-16 fighter aircraft manufacturer Lockheed Martin in its March 1 reply to a tweet by Gilani, which he removed subsequently.

×

Gilani's original tweet had reportedly quoted a website which also said that Lockheed Martin had expressed annoyance over the Indian claims and had confirmed that all the Pakistani F-16s were accounted for.

After Lockheed Martin India refuted Gilani's claims, Pakistan's former Press Secretary to PM deleted his tweet and even thanked Lockheed Martin."Thank you @LMIndiaNews. I acknowledge the statement is wrongly attributed to you. I picked it from a website. I take it back. However, I stand by Govt of #India's failure to prove it downed a #Pakistani F-16. Indian media & journalists have caught #Indian govt disinformation.”

At a joint media briefing in New Delhi on Thursday, senior officers of the three armed forces had said that Pakistan used multiple F-16 aircraft to target military establishments in India on Wednesday.

They had also presented proof of the AIM-120 missile fired by the F-16 in the Indian territory.