A video of a military aircraft dropping decoy flares is being shared on social media as that of Indian Air Force's Diwali celebration.
BOOM's fact check reveals that the clip is at least 15 years old. BOOM also spoke to Wing Commander Anupam Banerjee, Public Relations Officer of the Indian Air Force, who confirmed that the video has nothing to do with their Diwali celebration. He said that the aircraft is a C-130. Upon pointing out that the video is at least 15 years old, Banerjee said that the Indian Air Force did not have a C-130 aircraft back then.
The video has been shared on Facebook and Twitter with the caption "भारतीय वायु सेना ने कुछ इस अंदाज़ में मनाई दिवाली ".
Multiple pages such as ModiNama, I Support Narendra Bhai Modi, B.J.P Mission 2019 and an account Bhim Odedra have shared the video. Altogether the post has got over 5000 shares on Facebook.
Click here for the archived link of the post.
Click here for the archived link of the post.
Click here for the archived link of the post.
भारतीय वायु सेना ने कुछ इस अंदाज में मनाई दीवाली.. 💥💥
अब क्या उखाड़ लोगो मियां लार्ड🔥#HappyDiwali pic.twitter.com/zK9ddzi8Dt
— समीर माहेश्वरी 🚩 (@SameerM_) November 7, 2018
Click here for the archived link of the tweet.
FACT CHECK
Though it is not clear when the video was shot, BOOM found several credible sites indicating that the video is of the US Air Force. Also, the video's origin can be traced back to over 15 years. Click here for a 2002 article that has used grabs from the video.
A Reverse Google Image search of frames from the video led to an article by Maxim which had embedded the same footage by Youtube channel AIRBOYD. Airboyd is a verified Youtube channel and claims to be "The Most Watched Aviation Channel on YouTube".
The video posted in 2009 has the title, "C-130 Angel Wing Flare Pattern" and had cited the US Air Force Special Operations. The description says, "A Lockheed C-130 Dropping Flares in the well known "angel" pattern from the SUU-42A/A Ejector Pods". Watch the video below.
BOOM also found a fact check by Snopes published in 2003 which also says that the video is of C-130 Hercules transport aircraft. It mentions that pictures of the flare dropping process was found in the C-130 website hosted by Robins Air Force base which is a major US Air Force base located in Georgia.
What is seen in the video is the aircraft dropping decoy flares which in layman's terms is called the 'angel of death flare'. The name came about due to the pattern formed by the flares. However, it is not a weapon but an anti-missile maneuver. It helps in evading heat-seeking missiles which tracks the target by its infrared emissions.
India first acquired its C-130 aircraft in December 2010. C-130 is manufactured by Lockheed Martin, a US based global security and aerospace company.
Editor's Note : After we published the story it was brought to our notice that the video is of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). We have reached out to the Australian Air Force for an official response.
Twitter handle @eamonhamilton whose Twitter bio says 'Air Force Public Affairs Officer' pointed out that the video is an RAAF C130H Hercules. He also tweeted the link to a YouTube video by the official channel of RAAF. The video's caption says, "1996 video compilation about the C-130 Hercules.". The disputed clip is part of the video.
Here it is in a video we released in 1996 - go to 2:02 https://t.co/HYZ8JHKVuH
— Eamon Hamilton (@eamonhamilton) November 14, 2018
Since the Twitter account @eamonhamilton is not an official account, BOOM has reached out to RAAF for an official response. We shall update the story upon receiving a response from RAAF.