Viral footage of downed fighter jet turns out to be gameplay taken from ARMA 3

The footage, which began circulating on X, reached over 3.4 million viewers, captioned: "Pakistan jet JF-17 thunder shot down by Indian Defence". Users were quick to dispel the claims, with one commenter highlighting "Arma 3.", and another "It's a computer game." The platform's community notes now specify "from a video game ARMA 3", and an AI summary from GROK also reinforcing that the claim was false.

The post accompanies escalating tensions between India and Pakistan. On Wednesday, the Indian military engaged in multiple missile strikes in an attack dubbed Operation Sindoor, during which, over 31 casualties were reported. Pakistan has claimed to have since retaliated, with instability continuing to shake through the region.

Reverse image searches of the footage reveal that the ARMA 3 footage was shared on Instagram in March and April of this year - predating Operation Sindoor. Commenters were even fooled back then, with a user remarking "Holy crap, is this the Donbas airport? Those are Russian jets!". The footage posted in March and April had no context attached to it.

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