UPDATE: Following publication of this article, Pakistan has disputed the events described. It denies that any of its F-16s were involved in the skirmish, or that any were shot down as India claims. The latest on the competing claims of the Pakistani and Indian armies can be read here

When Wing Commander Abhinandan Vartaman of the Indian Air Force (IAF) spotted the enemy plane on his radar 7,000 feet below him he had little hesitation.

Locking onto the Pakistani jet launching a provocative cross-border missile raid over Kashmir he told his patrol partners: “I am going after him.” 

The dogfight that followed ended with Vartaman’s MiG-21 fighter being shot down and the Indian airman captured by…