The Indian Air Force (IAF) has once again asserted that five Pakistani fighter jets were shot down during Operation Sindoor. The reaffirmation came from Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh, during his speech at the 93rd Air Force Day celebrations.
Reiterating India’s military success, the Air Chief stated that the operation inflicted serious damage on Pakistani military infrastructure, including key airfields, radar systems, command and control centres, aircraft hangars, and runways. “We have signs of one C-130 class of aircraft... and at least 4 to 5 fighter aircraft, most likely F-16s, because that location had F-16s under maintenance at the time,” he said.
Singh revealed that among the Pakistani losses was a high-value long-range platform, either an AEW&C (Airborne Early Warning and Control) or a SIGINT (Signals Intelligence) aircraft. These were targeted at a range of over 300 km, indicating the extensive reach of India's precision strikes. “We have clear evidence of one long-range strike, which I talked about – more than 300 km – which happened to be either an AEW&C or a SIGINT aircraft. Along with that, five high-tech fighters, between F-16 and JF-17 class, were taken down. This is what our system tells us,” he added.
The Air Force chief also ridiculed Pakistan’s counterclaims of downing Indian jets, mocking their narrative as “manohar kahaniyan”. “If they think they downed our 15 jets, I hope they are convinced about it and they will cater for 15 fewer aircraft in my inventory when they come to fight again,” he quipped.
Calling out Pakistan's failure to back its claims with evidence, Singh took aim at the lack of imagery or proof presented by Islamabad. “We showed so many pictures of their places. However, they couldn’t show us even a single picture. So their narrative is manohar kahaniyan. Let them be happy. After all, they also have to show something to their audience to save their reputation. That doesn’t matter to me,” he said.
This is not the first time the IAF has detailed Pakistan’s losses during Operation Sindoor. In August, Air Chief Marshal Singh had revealed that the five Pakistani jets were brought down using India’s advanced S-400 air defence system.
His latest remarks came shortly after Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, made exaggerated claims at the United Nations General Assembly, stating that Pakistani forces had shot down seven Indian jets.“Our falcons took flight and etched their answer across the skies, resulting in seven of the Indian jets turning to scrap and dust,” Sharif had said during his address.
The Pakistani premier also accused India of targeting civilians, claiming that the Indian strikes were a reaction to an offer of cooperation on the Pahalgam incident. “India sought to extract political gains from a human tragedy by spurning my sincere offer of an independent investigation into the Pahalgam incident. Instead, it attacked our cities and targeted our innocent civilians,” he alleged.
These comments drew a firm response from India at the UN. First Secretary at India’s Permanent Mission, Petal Gahlot, issued a sharp rebuttal. “If destroyed runways and burnt-out hangars look like victory, as the prime minister claimed, Pakistan is welcome to enjoy it,” Gahlot stated.
Operation Sindoor was launched by India on 7 May, approximately two weeks after 26 civilians were killed in a deadly terror attack in Pahalgam. The Indian military response focused on neutralising terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, with over 100 terrorists reportedly killed in the operation.
