Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh on Saturday confirmed that India shot down five Pakistani fighter jets during Operation Sindoor, the military move targeting terror infrastructure, launched to avenge the April 22 Pahalgam attack.
During an address in Bengaluru, the Air Chief Marshal said that the jets were shot down by the S-400 air defence systems. Apart from the five jets, one large Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) or early warning aircraft was also destroyed, he said.
“We have at least five fighters confirmed kills and one large aircraft, which could be either an ELINT aircraft or an AEW &C aircraft, which was taken on at a distance of about 300 kilometres,” the Air Chief Marshal said, calling the downing of the aircraft the largest ever recorded surface-to-air kill. He also said that one half of the F-16 hangar at the Shahbaz Jacobabad airfield in Pakistan was “gone” and some aircraft inside were possibly damaged.
The IAF chief made the remarks while he was giving a briefing on how Operation Sindoor was planned and executed.
{{/usCountry}}The IAF chief made the remarks while he was giving a briefing on how Operation Sindoor was planned and executed.
{{/usCountry}}After the operation was launched on May 7, India did confirm that some high-tech Pakistani Air Force jets were shot down, but did not give an exact number. Air Marshal AK Bharti, director general air operations, had said back then that India was trying to get into the technical details to establish the exact number.
“We don’t have the wreckage as their (PAF) planes were prevented from entering our airspace. But we have downed a few planes," he had said.
As the Air Chief Marshal confirmed the number of Pak jets shot down, he said India rendered such a huge blow to Pakistan's air defence systems that the neighbouring country realised it would lose more if the conflict continued.
"I can say that it was more of a high-tech war which was fought. In 80 to 90 hours of war, we were able to achieve so much of damage to air system that it was clear to them that if they continue, they are going to pay for it more and more," the Air Chief Marshal said.
He also said that India was able to get control of at least two command and control centres, like Murid and Chaklala. "At least six radars, some of them big, some of them small...We have an indication of at least one AEW&C in that AEW&C hangar and a few F-16s, which were under maintenance there,” Singh was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Notably, US President Donald Trump recently claimed that five jets were lost during the India-Pakistan conflict. The US President has time and again claimed credit for brokering a ceasefire between the two countries, a claim New Delhi has always rejected, asserting there was no third party intervention.