A video of Apache helicopters flying over Lake Havasu in Arizona, United States, is viral with claims that it is from Ladakh's Pangong Tso lake, where the said choppers were recently filmed patrolling. The video shows two Apache copters flying at an extremely low altitude over the lake.
The video is viral after reports of the Indian Air Force deploying Apache helicopters in Ladakh following the India China skirmish in Galwan Valley were published. Combat air patrols were started in Ladakh to monitor Chinese air activity.
The video was shared by Twitter users congratulating the move by the IAF. It was captioned as, "Superb...Our Apache attack helicopters patrol over Pangong Tso in Ladakh Appreciate." It has viewed more than 2.8 lakh times at the time of writing this article. Click here to view an archive of one of the tweets.
The video is also viral on Facebook with the same narrative.
Verified YouTube channels of media outlets shared the same footage as choppers patrolling the Pangong Lake.
Fact Check
Multiple users called out Major General Brajesh Kr on Twitter for sharing a footage of Lake Havasu, USA, as India.
Taking cue, BOOM ran a keyword search and found the same video which was uploaded by a California based restaurant and brewery chain's Facebook page Hangar 24 Craft Brewing. The video was captioned as, "Some people just know how to roll into Taco Tuesday!".
Upon checking the comments in the video we found one Ron Warren who stated that the team 'was recruiting future pilots,' through this drill. Warren also shared footage, which appeared to be from the same day.
BOOM reached out to Warren who confirmed that the video is from USA and not India, as claimed by various viral handles. However, it is unclear if Warren was present during the flying drill of the Apaches over Lake Havasu.
We further reached out to Lake Havasu City's Convention and Visitor's Bureau page on Facebook, who confirmed that the video is from Lake Havasu and stated that the activity is a routine drill over the lake. The page also confirmed that there is "a fueling station at the Lake Havasu City airport and a lot of military aircraft in and around town and the lake is a regular sight."
We also compared images of the terrain of the banks of Lake Havasu from Google Maps, with the terrain in the viral video and could verify that it is from the same location.