“Understood. Tactical Errors, Remedied And Corrected”: Op Sindoor Losses
"What matters is that, not the aircraft being down, but why they were being down," Chief of Defence Staff Anil Chauhan said in an interview
India’s armed forces, for the first time, confirmed it lost a number of fighter aircraft during combat with Pakistan in May, while stating the four-day battle never came near the nuclear warhead point.
“What matters is why, not that the jet was down, but why they were being down,” Indian Armed Forces’ chief of defence staff Anil Chauhan said in an interview with Bloomberg TV on Saturday during the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.
Pakistan’s assertions that it shot down six Indian planes were “absolutely incorrect,” though he refused to reveal how many aircraft India lost.
“Why they were down, what was the mistake – that matters,” said General Chauhan when asked about the fighter aircraft. “Numbers don’t matter,” he added.
“The good part is that we are able to comprehend the tactical error which we committed, correct it, rectify it, and then execute it again after two days and flew all our jets again, targeting at long range,” General Chauhan said.
The remarks are the strongest and most explicit so far from an Indian military or government spokesperson on what happened to India‘s fighter jets in the war with Pakistan which started on May 7.
Last week, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif claimed his nation downed six Indian fighter planes, a claim that has not been independently confirmed. India’s government had previously declined to say if it lost planes in combat.
The clash was the worst between the nuclear-armed neighbors in half a century, with both sides trading air, drone and missile strikes, as well as artillery and small arms fire along their shared border. It was triggered by a gruesome attack in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22, which saw terrorists kill 26 civilians in what India called an act of terrorism orchestrated by Pakistan. Leaders in Islamabad denied involvement.
General Chauhan had no comment on President Donald Trump’s assertion that the US prevented a nuclear war, but expressed it was “far-fetched” to imagine either side had come close to exploding atomic bombs.
“I personally believe there is a great distance between conduct of normal operations and the nuclear threshold,” General Chauhan said. Communication channels with Pakistan “were always open” to manage the situation, he added, pointing out that on the escalation rung, there were “more sub-rungs which can be used for settling out our issues” without taking the nuclear route.
‘Red Lines’
General Chauhan also dismissed Pakistan’s assertions of the efficacy of weapons supplied from China and other nations as “not working.” An India Defense Ministry research group reported this month that China had given Pakistan air–defense and satellite coverings during its confrontation with India.
“We were able to conduct precision strikes on heavily air-defended Pakistani airfields 300 kilometres deep inside, with the accuracy of a meter,” the Indian defence chief stated.
India and Pakistan have dispatched envoys to world capitals to shape international opinion on the war. General Chauhan declared the hostilities stop holding, and would rely on what Pakistan does in the future.
“We have drawn clear red lines,” he declared.
