by Staff Correspondent
Wing Commander (now Group Captain) Abhinandan Varthaman was awarded the Vir Chakra by President Ram Nath Kovind in an investiture ceremony for shooting down a Pakistani F-16 fighter aircraft in aerial combat on February 27, 2019.
Abhinandan Varthaman, then a Wing Commander was engaged in a dogfight with a Pakistani fighter jet in the aerial skirmishes between Indian and Pakistani Air Forces that followed the Pulwama attack. He was promoted to the rank of a Group Captain on November 3.
Abhinandan Varthaman was part of the Srinagar-based 51 squadron and had flown to thwart an aerial attack launched by the Pakistanis on February 27, 2019.
