The Indian government had said that a Pakistani F-16 fighter jet was shot down by the Indian Air Force in a dogfight on February 27. US. Foreign Policy Magazine has claimed that claim may not be true; “Did India Shoot Down a Pakistani Jet? U.S. Count Says No.”

In a report quoting unnamed US defence officials. “Two senior US defence officials with direct knowledge of the situation told Foreign Policy that U.S. personnel recently counted Islamabad's F-16s and found none missing”.

The Indian government had said that in a dog fight on February 27, Indian Air Force pilot Abhinandan Varthaman had engaged with one of the Pakistani fighter jets that tried to target Indian military facilities and shot it down before he was hit and forced to eject. Abhinandan Varthaman landed across the Line of Control and was in Pakistani custody for three days before he was returned to India amid attempts to de-escalate the crisis between the two sides.

The Indian Air Force had on February 28 displayed pieces of the AMRAAM missile, fired by a Pakistan Air Forces (PAK) F-16, as evidence.

Following claims, US stated that it would investigate the use of F-16s on dog fight.

According to the Foreign Policy magazine, Pakistan invited the US to physically count its F-16 planes after the incident as part of an end-user agreement signed when the foreign military sale was finalized.