Indian Air Force (IAF) wing commander (currently group captain) Abhinandan Varthaman was conferred with the Vir Chakra award by President Ram Nath Kovind on 22nd November 2024. Abhinandan was honored with this award for shooting down a Pakistani F-16 fighter aircraft aerial combat on 27th February 2019.
In 2019, Abhinandan Varthaman participated in a battle with a Pakistani fighter jet during the aerial conflicts which are following the Pulwama attack.
During the aerial combat on a day after the Balakot airstrike, (27th February), Abhinandan shot down a Pakistani F-16 fighter aircraft.
In this process, he flew over the POK (Pakistan occupied Kashmir). His MiG-21 was hit. He had to eject over the territory of the enemy, Pakistan.
Pakistan Army was taken custody of him. Because of the pressure from the Indian side along with international intervention into the matter, the Pakistan Army was forced to release him.
Abhinandan was part of the Srinagar-based 51 squadrons. India had launched an aerial strike on 26th February, on Pakistan’s terrorist facility, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) which is located in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa area
Major Vibhuti Shankar Dhoundiyal’s wife Lieutenant Nitika Kaul and mother Saroj Dhoundiyal received his Shaurya Chakra (Posthumous) for an operation that was done in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). In this operation, 200 kg explosives were recovered and five terrorists were killed.