Tom Cooper has been saying it since the day of air engagement. The Pakis and F-16 fanboys have hated him all along.
This is not going to change it unfortunately. He will continue to be put in the looney list.
I can't say for a fact it was an F-16; but the likelihood of it seems the greatest just based on various little pieces of information we got at the time.
> First Pak claimed they never used F-16's at all (total lie exposed with AMRAAM wreckage - we also claim we had radar signatures of F-16's too - out of which one disappeared; but since we didn't share them, I won't base my argument on that)
> Imran and Ghafoor went from claiming 3 pilots (Abhinandan + "doosra banda at CMH" + 1 dead - later said to be a Paki pilot who either died of wounds or was lynched by his own people on mistaken identity); to then only claiming 2 pilots, and finally stopped talking about anyone other than Abhinandan.
> Amateur/cellphone videos shot by locals (with their voices in the background) - clearly show and suggest 3 parachutes.
> So basically it was Abhinandan's MiG-21 & one Paki double seat fighter. Meaning it was either an F-16 (most likely), or a double seat variant of the JF-17 (most of the JF-17 fleet is single seat)
Only leaves one likely conclusion. Also, here's another interesting, and potentially clinching, bit of info:
Pakistan had said it purchased 12 F-16As and 1 F-16B from Jordan, but in a 2014 image released by its military’s publicity wing ISPR, 2 F-16Bs can be seen.
theprint.in