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New Delhi : Group Captain Abhinandan who was awarded the Vir Chakra for shooting down a Pakistani F-16 fighter jet during a dogfight over the Line of Control (LoC) on February 27, 2019 has left the Indian Air Force and joined a private airline.
Officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, stated that he left the Air Force on March 31 and subsequently joined the regional airline Fly91. The dogfight involving Abhinandan took place a day after IAF Mirage-2000 aircraft struck targets in Balakot, Pakistan. That strike was in retaliation for the February 14, 2019, Pulwama suicide attack in Kashmir, which claimed the lives of 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel. At the time, he held the rank of Wing Commander.
Abhinandan, then 35, set a precedent in the history of military aviation. He shot down an F-16, and mere seconds later, his own MiG-21 Bison was hit by a missile, forcing him to eject. Experts described this as the first instance of a MiG-21 Bison shooting down an F-16, noting that the two aircraft belong to different generations of fighter jets.
He was captured after ejecting from his aircraft but was returned to India by Pakistan on March 1, 2019, after being held in custody for approximately 60 hours.
The citation for Abhinandan, published in the Gazette of India in December 2019, states that he bravely engaged a formation of Pakistani aircraft, despite the adversary holding a vastly superior position in terms of both numbers and technology. Additionally, Abhinandan’s aggressive maneuvers strategically confounded the enemy aircraft.
In February 2019, Abhinandan was deployed with a MiG-21 Bison squadron and was on ‘Operational Readiness Platform’ duty at the Srinagar Air Force Station when a large formation of Pakistan Air Force fighter jets was spotted approaching the Line of Control (LoC).
The citation states that he pursued a retreating enemy fighter jet and shot down an F-16 during the aerial engagement. It further notes, “However, amidst the ensuing chaos, an enemy aircraft fired multiple advanced BVR missiles; one of these struck his aircraft, forcing him to eject over enemy territory.”
Report – Abhijit Tushar Bhatt (Political Editor)
