In an interview with Bloomberg on Saturday, India’s defense chief seemingly acknowledged that the country had indeed lost at least one aircraft during the recent brief conflict with Pakistan earlier this month.
This month, India and Pakistan experienced a four-day conflict, marking their most severe standoff since 1999, culminating in a ceasefire agreement on May 10.
Over 70 individuals lost their lives due to missile, drone, and artillery strikes from both sides.
Pakistan has asserted that its Chinese-supplied jets successfully shot down six Indian aircraft.
General Anil Chauhan, India’s chief of defence staff, has dismissed Pakistan’s assertions that it downed six Indian warplanes as “absolutely incorrect”.
However, when questioned about the potential loss of jets, Chauhan seemed to acknowledge that New Delhi had indeed lost an undisclosed number of aircraft, though he refrained from providing further details.
“What’s important is not just the jet being down but the reasons behind it,” he stated during an interview with Bloomberg TV at the Shangri-La Dialogue defence meeting in Singapore.
New Delhi has yet to provide an immediate response.
On May 11, following the ceasefire, India’s Air Marshal AK Bharti addressed reporters, stating that “all our pilots are back home.” He emphasised that “we are in a combat scenario and that losses are a part of combat.”
An authoritative security source informed AFP that three Indian jets have crashed on domestic territory, though details regarding the aircraft’s make or the cause of the incidents remain undisclosed.
India had not confirmed the loss of its aircraft until Saturday.
“Chauhan stated in an interview with Bloomberg that the positive aspect is our ability to recognise the tactical error we committed, address it, correct it, and subsequently reapply our strategy after two days, successfully deploying all our jets to engage in long-range targeting.”
“Understanding the reasons for their decline is crucial for us, as well as our subsequent actions,” he stated.
The latest escalation in tensions between the nuclear-armed adversaries was ignited by an assault on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22, marking the deadliest attack on civilians in the disputed Muslim-majority region in decades.
New Delhi has accused Islamabad of supporting the Islamist militants responsible for the recent attack, a claim that Pakistan has firmly rejected.
