Not aware of any audit of F-16s in Pakistan, says Pentagon Read more at: http://timesofindia.india

[Vortex]

Seems some indians are paid by those newspapers.
After all it’s a job which doesn’t require high level diplômes.

Correction: adding “all” word.

 

[TheDarkKnight]

WASHINGTON: Claims and counterclaims continue to fly over India’s insistence that it shot down an F-16 during its ..

Read more at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...ofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst


Read more at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...ofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Well it eventually comes down to who has more credibility, neutrality, qualification and is closer to pentagon or US DoD to get to the truth of the matter: Lara Seligman a Foreign Policy’s Pentagon correspondent or Chidanand Rajghatta from Times of India.
If we need to validate a piece of information related to pentagon or US DoD (such as how US officials audit Foreign operated F16s), we all know who's unnamed sources will have more credibility.

Additionally lets take a look at this article from Times of India as well:
1) The title of the article is misleading itself - Pentagon hasn't given any public statements. The story just quotes one unnamed source from Pentagon.
2) Lara's story in FP is citing "Two senior U.S. defense officials with direct knowledge of the situation" where as Mr Chidanand of Times of India (TOI) has one source who just said he/she is "not aware" of an audit i.e. even their source did not categorically contradict the Foreign Policy article by stating that such an audit has not happened. The source probably just said “I don't know” and is not aware or qualfied to talk about these matters at all.
3) Lara's story is also more credible in the sense as the existence of routine audits of PAF F16s is a well known fact for a long time - so an audit happening due to Indian claims of an F16 loss is not surprising. Mr Chidanand's source may simply be just unaware of the dealings of US DoD with PAF. It how ever was disgraceful and misleading of Mr Chidanand and TOI to stretch this lack of knowledge from the source into a denial of any audit happening at all just to contradict FP article, and then on top of that wrongly publicized this as an official statement from Pentagon.

4)My personal speculation: Given the credibility of Indian sources, atleast for issues related to India vs Pakistan, I think their source was not credible or qualified at all for this matter, and may just be a low level official of Indian origin who simply denied any knowledge on his/her part; but TOI is then just trying to spin this in favor of the Indian narrative, but failing miserably infront of the international audience.

PS. Why you Indians are not scrutinizing the unnamed sources in this story?

 

[JonAsad]

You will wake up to the same news on international media tomorrow morning.

Marked for tomorrow...
I am gona call you out for your lies..

 

[GumNaam]

Seems some indians are paid by those newspapers.
After it’s a job which doesn’t require high level diplômes.

well with the indian unemployment running sky high, indian newspapers can hire the best indian bullsh!tter with a phd for fraction of pennies. india has cornered and dominated the world market of phds in bullsh!tting!

 

[Jinn Baba]

So an Indian journalist went up to a random Pentagon official and asked if an audit of PAF F16s had been done. S/he replies im "not aware" (the only quote in that entire article) and this somehow becomes major news in India

A single Pentagon employee being "not aware" is now being sold as some official claim

 

[Vortex]

Well it will come down to who you believe to have more credibility, neutrality and is more qualified and closer to pentagon to get to the truth of the matter: Lara Seligman a Foreign Policy’s Pentagon correspondent or Chidanand Rajghatta from Times of India.
If it comes down to verify what's going on in pentagon, we all know who's unnamed sources have more credibility.

PS. Why you Indians are not scrutinizing the unnamed sources in this story ?

Psychological disorders created by their Bollywood culture. They cannot accept reality.

All Indians need anxiolytics drugs.

 

[The Diplomat]

PAF is smart. They used Jordan F16 for Balakot operation.

PAF acquires F-16s from Jordan

https://twitter.com/x/status/1114183187054366720

Even if we did use the F-16s bought from Jordan, they were included in the audit. You need to accept reality, there is a reason why Air Chief West Command was fired. The reason is poor performance. You lost 2 aircraft in air combat with Pakistani JF-17s, conducted an airstrike in random location with no casualties and finally made your air force and ruling party look weak.

 

[Yaseen1]

Pentagon has to do many other important jobs counting our f16 is done by lower level staff so higher officials may not be aware of every such snall activity of pentagon and are not required to confirm these small issues which have less importance to u.s

 

[Ultima Thule]

PAF is smart. They used Jordan F16 for Balakot operation.

PAF acquires F-16s from Jordan

Yes we did so what is the problem for that but not without US audit/Permission @IndoCarib

 

[The Diplomat]

Yes we did so what is the problem for that but not without US audit/Permission @IndoCarib

Personally I think it's a stupid idea to allow the United States to complete an audit on our F-16s, secondly there are alternatives in the market, if US wants to put restrictions on the F-16s then why did we buy them at more than $40m a unit?

 

[mingle]

He said not aware means Audit happened and he doesn't want to elaborate further he did not say not happened.Lara s story at FP magazine is fed by pentagon.

 

[Ultima Thule]

Personally I think it's a stupid idea to allow the United States to complete an audit on our F-16s, secondly there are alternatives in the market, if US wants to put restrictions on the F-16s then why did we buy them at more than $40m a unit?

Yes you absolutely right brother @The Diplomat

 

[SABRE]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1114183187054366720

Even if we did use the F-16s bought from Jordan, they were included in the audit. You need to accept reality, there was a reason why Air Chief West Command was fired. The reason is poor performance. You lost 2 aircraft in air combat with Pakistani JF-17s, conducted an airstrike in random location with no casualties and finally made your air force and ruling party look weak.

Yes. There is a Third Party Transfer (TPT) agreement of which Pakistan, Jordan, & US are part of. US has to be part of any TPT otherwise it cannot take place. Recipient country has to agree to US terms first and foremost. It's like mostly dealing with the Americans than the seller country. The weapon system/platform being transferred would be registered to the recipient country and counted in their fleet. US export-control laws and end-user agreement are very stringent. A secret transaction also cannot take place. US officials tend to periodically track their exported weapon systems. They have means of verification. They don't just count 1,2,3 ... from what I have heard they go through the entire aircraft to ensure there has been no tempering and that equipment/avionics serial numbers are congruent with the item sold. As one expert put it on Twitter; Jordan receives over $1 billion annually from the US. They'll not risk it by selling an extra secret F-16 to Pakistan without the US approval. Additionally, F-16s are all they have. They can't deplete their own fleet. Forget secret sales, the US would want to know if a pilot from the third country has been around their supplied aircraft or equipment. Even Israel got in trouble for letting Chinese president inside their Phalcon AEW&CS as it had American equipment on it.

It's amusing how the Indians have been unable to grasp the basics of American export control rules and yet they aspire to become a member of NSG.

 

[Placemat]

Told you yesterday ... I am sitting on the fence on this one.
As a neutral observer and soon to be Aussie , this is getting murkier.
US needs to be in Pak good books for Afg and their own interests regd F16 capability. India have a PM who has made a risky move and cannot be seen to be losing. PAK also have to save face and show the people they are shielding that they can effectively counter India. So we are sitting on a thin ice here.
Anything can happen. No miscalculation, another terror attack in India done by anyone and overall election in India and you guys are sitting on a powder ieg about to blast.

Well it eventually comes down to who has more credibility, neutrality, qualification and is closer to pentagon or US DoD to get to the truth of the matter: Lara Seligman a Foreign Policy’s Pentagon correspondent or Chidanand Rajghatta from Times of India.
If we need to validate a piece of information related to pentagon or US DoD (such as how US officials audit Foreign operated F16s), we all know who's unnamed sources will have more credibility.

Additionally lets take a look at this article from Times of India as well:
1) The title of the article is misleading itself - Pentagon hasn't given any public statements. The story just quotes one unnamed source from Pentagon.
2) Lara's story in FP is citing "Two senior U.S. defense officials with direct knowledge of the situation" where as Mr Chidanand of Times of India (TOI) has one source who just said he/she is "not aware" of an audit i.e. even their source did not categorically contradict the Foreign Policy article by stating that such an audit has not happened. The source probably just said “I don't know” and is not aware or qualfied to talk about these matters at all.
3) Lara's story is also more credible in the sense as the existence of routine audits of PAF F16s is a well known fact for a long time - so an audit happening due to Indian claims of an F16 loss is not surprising. Mr Chidanand's source may simply be just unaware of the dealings of US DoD with PAF. It how ever was disgraceful and misleading of Mr Chidanand and TOI to stretch this lack of knowledge from the source into a denial of any audit happening at all just to contradict FP article, and then on top of that wrongly publicized this as an official statement from Pentagon.

4)My personal speculation: Given the credibility of Indian sources, atleast for issues related to India vs Pakistan, I think their source was not credible or qualified at all for this matter, and may just be a low level official of Indian origin who simply denied any knowledge on his/her part; but TOI is then just trying to spin this in favor of the Indian narrative, but failing miserably infront of the international audience.

PS. Why you Indians are not scrutinizing the unnamed sources in this story?

Chidanand rajghatta is a veteran and a well respected professional. He is a quality journalist.

Yes. There is a Third Party Transfer (TPT) agreement of which Pakistan, Jordan, & US are part of. US has to be part of any TPT otherwise it cannot take place. Recipient country has to agree to US terms first and foremost. It's like mostly dealing with the Americans than the seller country. The weapon system/platform being transferred would be registered to the recipient country and counted in their fleet. US export-control laws and end-user agreement are very stringent. A secret transaction also cannot take place. US officials tend to periodically track their exported weapon systems. They have means of verification. They don't just count 1,2,3 ... from what I have heard they go through the entire aircraft to ensure there has been no tempering and that equipment/avionics serial numbers are congruent with the item sold. As one expert put it on Twitter; Jordan receives over $1 billion annually from the US. They'll not risk it by selling an extra secret F-16 to Pakistan without the US approval. Additionally, F-16s are all they have. They can't deplete their own fleet. Forget secret sales, the US would want to know if a pilot from the third country has been around their supplied aircraft or equipment. Even Israel got in trouble for letting Chinese president inside their Phalcon AEW&CS as it had American equipment on it.

It's amusing how the Indians have been unable to grasp the basics of American export control rules and yet they aspire to become a member of NSG.

I don't think anyone on this forum is negotiating NSG rules

 

[Ultima Thule]

Told you yesterday ... I am sitting on the fence on this one.
As a neutral observer and soon to be Aussie , this is getting murkier.
US needs to be in Pak good books for Afg and their own interests regd F16 capability. India have a PM who has made a risky move and cannot be seen to be losing. PAK also have to save face and show the people they are shielding that they can effectively counter India. So we are sitting on a thin ice here.
Anything can happen. No miscalculation, another terror attack in India done by anyone and overall election in India and you guys are sitting on a powder ieg about to blast.

LOL why you (india ) always prtending to be Victimize nation, you India (India) is in delusional/face saving mode, World with us on Balakot strike and 27 FEB air battle, you have no proof about balakot strike and short down of F-16D, you're delusional/face saving mode @Chowkidar placemat

Chidanand rajghatta is a veteran and a well respected professional. He is a quality journalist.

But he is not a Pentagon corespondent you know @Chowkidar placemat

I don't think anyone on this forum is negotiating NSG rules

don't change the topic and you're puppet of USA against China @Chowkidar placemat