Taiwan: Pakistan missile part shown by IAF didn’t come from us

NEW DELHI: The Taiwan Air Force has refuted claims made in Pakistani media reports that the AMRAAM missile part displayed by the IAF, after it shot down a Pakistani F-16, came from the weapon systems sold by the US to Taiwan.

Pakistan has continued to claim that it never used an F-16 in the dogfight with the IAF which resulted in the capture of Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman. For Indian though, the seizure of the remnant of the air-to-air AMRAAM missile was significant as it is only carried by F-16s in Pakistan’s combat fleet.

This has helped the government drive home its point that an F-16 was indeed used by Pakistan in violation of its trade agreement with the US.

The Taiwan Air Force press release further said it did not use this missile as its systems were not compatible with the relevant weapon. "It also urged all concerned not to be misguided by hearsay," said a source.

The US is seeking more information about the reported use of the fighter aircraft by Pakistan.

The US, which is the largest seller of high-tech defence equipment globally, has a strong end-user monitoring agreement, and as a matter of practice takes all allegations of misuse of defence articles very seriously.

Indian news channels had reported earlier, quoting Taiwan media reports, that the contract number FA8675-05-C-0070 displayed on the AMRAAM part and the US-Pakistan contract details for the same weapon conclusively proved that Pakistan had used an F-16 in the encounter.