India's Defence Chief of Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan has accepted that the Indian Air Force did incur losses of aircraft in the recent conflict with Pakistan.
But he categorically denied Pakistan's claim that it had downed six Indian air fighter jets, terming it as "absolutely incorrect."
In an open interview to Bloomberg TV on his Singapore visit, Gen Chauhan stressed that the reasons for the loss of the planes were much more important than the losses themselves. He pointed out that the Indian military forces identified and remedied tactical deficiencies, allowing them to rebalance and launch pinpoint retaliatory attacks deep inside Pakistani territory.
While Gen Chauhan did not reveal the number of aircraft hit, he was categorical in confirming that India conducted precise and extended operations within Pakistan. His statements constituted the first categorical confirmation by the Indian armed forces of the losses during the fierce four-day face-off with Pakistan.
"I believe what matters is not the downing of the jet but why they were being downed," Gen Chauhan said when asked how India had lost in the hostilities. This opinion he reiterated while claiming that the Indian armed forces had learned at the cost of their early mistakes, had remodelled their strategy, and had successfully resumed their operations within two days. "We flew all our jets again targeting at long range," he observed.
Regarding Pakistan's direct claim of shooting down six Indian aircraft during Operation Sindoor, Gen Chauhan was clear: "Absolutely incorrect."
The engagement, which was precipitated by the Pahalgam terror attack, prompted India to undertake Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terrorist camps in Pakistani-held areas with long-range missiles, including the BrahMos cruise missile. The operation initiated four days of intense exchanges, ending in a mutual agreement to stop hostilities by May 10.
Early in the morning of May 10, India is said to have launched a massive retaliatory attack, striking top Pakistani military targets. The move followed failed Pakistani efforts to strike Indian bases the previous night, prompting what New Delhi claimed was a robust and necessary countervailing attack.
Indian Air Force Director General of Air Operations Air Marshal AK Bharti admitted in a May 11 news conference that "losses are part of combat," but he highlighted that "all IAF pilots returned home safely."
On the heels of Gen Chauhan's TV statements, the Congress party called for more openness from the government. Elder statesman Uttam Kumar Reddy demanded that they make clear whether any Indian planes were indeed lost in light of CDS' admission.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh demanded a formal inquiry like the Kargil Review Committee set up in 1999 by the Vajpayee regime. Referring to that past precedent, he questioned if the Modi government would now do the same in view of Gen Chauhan's revelations. "Will the Modi government now do the same in view of what the Chief of Defence Staff has just exposed in Singapore?" Ramesh questioned in an X post.
As political circles at home reacted to the CDS's remarks, defence analyst Shashank Joshi, of King's College London and The Economist, chimed in. He opined that India has perhaps lost the aircraft on the opening night of the war due to not carrying enough armaments.
Joshi, as he quoted Western estimates, lent support to Gen Chauhan's emphasis on learning and adapting, saying in an X post that continuously evolving and refining strategies are as crucial as the early operational failures.
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