India’s military has officially confirmed the loss its fighter jets during May -clashes with Pakistan and marked the first official recognition of air loss in the ongoing conflict.
General Anil Chauhan, Defense Chief of the Indian Armed Forces, revealed the information in an interview with Bloomberg TV on Saturday, under the sidelines of the Shangri-La dialog in Singapore.
However, he refused Pakistan’s numbers of six Indian jets that were shot down and chose not to specify the exact number of lost aircraft.
“What is important is not that the jet is down, but why they were down,” Chauhan said. “Numbers are not important.”
His comments followed confirmation from Pakistan, including a statement from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who confirmed that Pakistan Air Force had put down a sixth Indian aircraft, a Mirage 2000, near Srinagar on the night of May 6-7.
Chauhan discussed further tactical errors committed during the conflict and noted that the Indian military had resumed air operations just two days later and performed long-distance precision attacks.
“The good part is that we are able to understand the tactical mistakes, remedy them and implement them again,” he added.
While General Chauhan did not specify the number of lost jets, a senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, Subramanian Swamy, had previously recognized the loss of at least five Indian aircraft during the clash against Pakistan.
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When he spoke on a podcast, Swamy confirmed that Pakistan had shut down five Indian fighter jets, including Rafale aircraft, during the military exchange.
He also commented on the performance of Indian and Pakistani jets and said, “Pakistan shot down five of our aircraft using Chinese fighter jets.” He admitted that ‘the Chinese jets had surpassed the French Rafales.’
Previously indicated reports from Pakistan that Indian forces had suffered significant losses during the clashes, including the crash of three Rafale jet aircraft, a critical asset to the Indian Air Force.
In the wake of these losses, both nations had engaged in heavy air strikes, where Pakistan had declared to have neutralized Israeli-made drones launched by India.
Read more: US officials confirm that Pakistan reduced at least two Indian jets, including rafale
About the potential of nuclear escalation, General Chauhan rejected such concerns and felt them “long -term”.
He emphasized that there was a significant gap between conventional operations and nuclear threshold.
In addition, Chauhan pointed out that communication channels between India and Pakistan remained open throughout the matches, which helped control the situation.
“There are several sub -plates that can be utilized to settle our problems,” he said.
The conflict between India and Pakistan originally escalated on April 22 after an attack in the Pahaldam area in Indian-otheal occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) killed 26 people. India accused Pakistan of the incident without providing evidence. Islamabad denied India’s claims and called for an independent probe.
India then suspended the 65-year-old Indus Waters Treaty, canceled Visa and closure of border crossings that led to Tit-For-Tate Measures from Pakistan.
READ: India approves the Stealth Jet Plan in the middle of tension with Pakistan
The military commitment was further intensified with missile attacks on May 7, which targeted several cities in Punjab and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, followed by Pakistan Downing Indian Warplanes.
As hostilities rose, both countries launched military strikes where India hit Pakistani Airbases and Pakistanis that retaliate by damaging Indian missile storage sites and other strategic goals.
On May 10, the US-led diplomatic endeavor resulted in a ceasefire agreement, although both countries continue to participate in a war war.
